By Bill Heaney
West Dunbartonshire Council yesterday (Sunday) refused to discuss which companies will be used to recover parking fine debts incurred by local people.
Their spin doctors – aided and abetted by Labour and SNP councillors – will not take questions about revelations that companies charging drivers fees for recovering parking ticket debts have an average profit margin exceeding 60%.
Parking ticket debt firms are said to make ‘disproportionate’ profits, and The Dumbarton Democrat wanted details from the Council about which firms will operate the new parking sytem, which is to be introduced across West Dunbartonshire from today (Monday).
West Dunbartonshire Council Labour administration accepts that its “communications” team refuse to answer questions from The Democrat.
But the Council “communications” department, which cost the public hundreds of thousands of pounds per year, do not respond to our telephone calls or e-mails and have told us that if we want answers then we have to make a Freedom of Information request, which can take months to provide answers — if at all.
Readers could wake up to an £80 parking ticket in the morning if they park their vehicle on a double yellow line or other in any other restricted places before they go to bed tonight.
The recovery charge if drivers fail to pay the £70 fine is that it will be added to the £80 which comes to £150 and will be collected by Messengers at Arms [Sheriff’s Officers].
Whether it will at any stage involve warrant sales and leave people open to eviction for failing to pay is also a question we would have asked were we not banned.
Debt recovery agencies are used by parking operators to attempt to collect money for unpaid tickets.
They charge drivers additional fees of up to £70 per ticket.
These charges were set to be banned when the then-Conservative government introduced a code of practice in February 2022, but this was withdrawn four months later after a legal challenge by parking companies.
A new consultation document setting out the current Labour Government’s proposed code stated the £70 cap is “likely to be higher than can be reasonably justified” but it is “seeking further evidence”.
It added that recovery agencies have “an average profit margin of approximately 63%”.
This is “comparable to highly innovative companies” despite the businesses involved providing “standard services such as payment plan provision”, according to the document.
It added: “We therefore do not consider them to be providing significantly innovative services, and as such the high profits may be indicative of these firms having too much control over the market, thereby indicating that there is a market failure.”
Parking operators can take drivers to court if they continue to resist paying for tickets.
The MHCLG said debt recovery agencies would break even with fees of approximately £26 per ticket, if the proportion of those paying was stable.
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at the AA, said: “The 63% profit margin feels disproportionately high for the services provided.
“This only highlights the need to curb the sector and ensure balance for all. There remains an overzealous cohort among some private parking operators where they hand over cases to debt recovery firms for seemingly innocuous charges.”
Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, said: “The profit margins revealed by the Government help explain why there are now more than 180 private parking firms buying vehicle keeper records from the DVLA so they can send demands to drivers – it’s a huge and profitable business.
“The private parking industry’s failure over time to be more open about its activities is part of the problem and its ongoing reluctance to open its books to official scrutiny shows why ministers must follow through with plans to bring transparency and independence to this sector.
A BPA spokesman said it “strongly disputes the Government’s profit calculations” and called on it to “publish the methodology behind these figures”.
He continued: “The numbers presented are misleading and fail to reflect the reality of the debt resolution sector.”
He insisted the purpose of debt recovery fees is “not to generate profit but to act as a fair and effective deterrent against deliberate non-payment”.
An MHCLG spokesperson said: “This Government inherited a private parking market that lacks transparency and protection for motorists.
“We share their frustration, which is why our private parking code of practice will drive up standards in the industry and hold parking operators to account.
“We consulted on the current cap on debt recovery fees and will publish our response as soon as possible.”