Motorists hit with penalties when parking on private land – including outside shops and hospitals – can fight back from tomorrow. The Parking on Private Land Appeals scheme will at last give independent adjudication on disputes involving companies signed up to the British Parking Association. About 700 of the UK’s 2,000 private parking firms, including major names such as NCP, belong to the association. However, it will not stop others that do not belong from ignoring the guidelines. Car clamping on private land will also no longer be permitted from tomorrow, with the exception of railway stations, airports and ports.

Photographer Paul Lewis, 55, of Chester, received a £95 Parking Charge Notice in the post after leaving his car for more than an hour at a McDonald’s car park in Liverpool. Free parking was for one hour only, although Paul said there were no signs. ‘I was incensed,’ he says. ‘I had been sitting inside the restaurant enjoying a meal and chat.'...Read more here: Drivers caught by aggressive private parking firms handed lifeline