Private parking firms ‘raked in £50m profit in last three years’

Number of fines handed out by private companies has surged to record number this year

An average of 30,000 parking tickets are handed out by private firms on average a day (Getty Images)

Top private parking firms have raked in more than £50m in profits over the past three years despite Covid lockdowns keeping people at home, it has been reported.

It comes after recent figures showed the number of parking tickets has surged this year.

A record number was handed out by private parking firms in a three-month period, working out at an average of nearly 30,000 a day.

Analysis of company documents by the Daily Mail has now shed light on the profits of the top firms over the past three years.

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Seven of the top firms recorded a combined turnover of more than £650m and a combined profit of more than £50m during this time, the newspaper reported.

ParkingEye, which describes itself as the UK’s leading car park management company, raked in nearly £28m in profit over the past three years, with its two highest-paid directors earning £2.25m between them in the three years up to 2021, according to the report.

Another top private parking firm, Euro Car Parks, made £15.6m in profits in the past three years accounts were available for, the analysis found.

The figures sparked alarm from the motoring sector, which has previously raised concerns over the operations of private parking firms.

“No one doubts the need for private parking managers to make a return in order for their businesses to be viable, but where does the borderline come between reasonable profits and a licence to print money?” Steve Gooding from the RAC Foundation told the Daily Mail.

”While the combination of Covid and runaway inflation has put a financial squeeze on many companies, motorists feeling the pinch might be forgiven for questioning how the management of private parking is proving to be such a resiliently lucrative business for its senior directors.”

Earlier this year, the government capped parking fines in private car parks at £50 - down from £100 - in a move to crackdown on what it called “cowboy” companies.

A ParkingEye spokesperson said: “Latest statistics show that in the region of 40 million vehicles park every day in the UK and over 99.5 per cent do so without incident.”

Car Park has been approached for comment.