CMA Fines Euro Car Parks £473,000: What It Really Means for UK Drivers

The Competition and Markets Authority has sent a clear message to the private parking industry — and it's one every motorist should understand.

When a Car Park Company Ignores a Regulator, Everyone Pays Attention

Imagine being fined nearly half a million pounds not for breaking consumer law outright, but simply for refusing to hand over information to the people investigating whether you broke consumer law. That's precisely what happened to Euro Car Parks, one of the UK's largest private parking operators, and it tells you everything you need to know about the current state of regulatory scrutiny in this sector.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) levied a £473,000 fine against Euro Car Parks for failing to comply with a legally binding information notice — essentially a formal demand for data and documentation as part of an ongoing investigation. It's a significant moment, not just because of the size of the penalty, but because of what it signals about where the regulatory wind is blowing.

What Actually Happened

The CMA, which serves as the UK's primary competition and consumer protection authority, had issued Euro Car Parks with a formal information notice under its investigatory powers. These notices are not optional. They carry the full weight of law, requiring businesses to provide specified documents, data, or other information within a defined timeframe.

Euro Car Parks, according to the CMA's findings as reported by legal sector analysts DWF Group, failed to comply with that notice. The regulator's response was swift and substantial: a £473,000 fine, which represents one of the more eye-catching penalties handed to a private parking operator in recent memory.

It's important to understand what this fine is not. It isn't a direct finding that Euro Car Parks has mistreated consumers or broken consumer protection law — at least not yet. The underlying investigation into the company's practices is, as of this writing, ongoing. What the fine does represent is a finding that Euro Car Parks obstructed the regulatory process itself. In the eyes of the CMA, that's serious enough to warrant a near-half-million-pound sanction on its own.

Euro Car Parks operates hundreds of car parks across the UK, including sites at airports, retail centres, hospitals, and city centres. Millions of drivers interact with their systems every year, making any investigation into their practices a matter of genuine public interest.

Why This Matters: The Bigger Picture

This fine doesn't exist in a vacuum. It arrives at a moment when the private parking industry is under more regulatory pressure than at any point in its history.

The Private Parking Code of Practice, developed under the government's mandate following years of industry criticism, has been the subject of significant debate and legal challenge. The British Parking Association (BPA) and the International Parking Community (IPC) — the two main trade bodies governing private operators — have both faced questions about whether self-regulation is truly sufficient to protect drivers.

The CMA's intervention signals something important: the government's consumer watchdog is no longer content to sit on the sidelines while trade bodies manage complaints internally. The authority has been increasingly active in scrutinising sectors where consumers are perceived to be at a structural disadvantage — and private parking fits that profile almost perfectly.

Think about the typical dynamic: a driver parks, receives a charge notice weeks later, and faces a confusing appeals process run by the very industry that issued the fine. The power imbalance is stark. When a company the size of Euro Car Parks then appears to resist even basic information requests from a regulator, it reinforces a perception that parts of this industry believe they can operate with impunity.

The CMA is clearly determined to disabuse them of that notion.

The Legal Angle: What Powers Does the CMA Actually Have?

The CMA's authority to issue information notices derives from the Enterprise Act 2002, which grants the regulator broad investigatory powers. Under Section 26 of that Act, the CMA can require any person to provide documents or information it considers relevant to an investigation. Crucially, failure to comply — or providing false information — is a criminal offence as well as grounds for civil penalty.

The fining powers used against Euro Car Parks flow from the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC Act), which significantly strengthened the CMA's enforcement toolkit. Under this legislation, the CMA can impose fines of up to 5% of a company's global annual turnover for non-compliance with investigative requirements. The £473,000 figure, while substantial, may well represent a fraction of what the regulator could have imposed depending on Euro Car Parks' revenue figures.

Beyond the DMCC Act, the investigation itself likely touches on the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which prohibits unfair contract terms and requires that consumer-facing terms be transparent and fair. Private parking contracts — the ones formed when you drive into a car park and accept the displayed terms — fall squarely within this legislation's scope.

The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 also remains highly relevant. This is the legislation that ended the practice of clamping on private land and established the keeper liability framework — meaning parking companies can pursue the registered keeper of a vehicle even if they weren't the driver. Any investigation into Euro Car Parks' practices would almost certainly examine how they use and potentially misuse this framework.

What Drivers Should Know: Practical Takeaways

Whether or not you've ever parked in a Euro Car Parks facility, this story has direct practical relevance for how you handle private parking charges. Here's what to keep in mind:

1. Ongoing investigations change the landscape If you have an outstanding dispute with Euro Car Parks — whether an unpaid Parking Charge Notice (PCN), a debt referral, or an appeal in progress — the CMA's investigation is worth noting. Regulatory scrutiny can sometimes prompt operators to adopt more cautious enforcement approaches during the investigation period.

2. You always have the right to appeal Private parking fines issued by BPA members go to POPLA (Parking on Private Land Appeals). IPC members use the Independent Appeals Service (IAS). Both are independent adjudicators, and both are free to use for motorists. Always exhaust the formal appeals process before paying a charge you believe is unjust.

3. Check the signage carefully The most successful grounds for appeal consistently relate to inadequate or unclear signage. Under the Consumer Rights Act, the terms of a parking contract must be clearly communicated. If the signs at the car park where you received a charge were obscured, contradictory, or absent, document this with photographs immediately.

4. Know the grace period rules Under the current Private Parking Code of Practice, operators are required to allow a 10-minute grace period at the end of paid or permitted parking time. If you've been fined for overstaying by a handful of minutes, this is a strong grounds for challenge.

5. Don't ignore charges — but don't panic either A Parking Charge Notice from a private operator is not the same as a Penalty Charge Notice from a council. Private operators cannot send bailiffs without first obtaining a County Court Judgment (CCJ) against you. If you receive escalating letters from debt collection agencies, these are often designed to pressure you into paying — but the underlying legal process takes time, and you retain the right to defend yourself at every stage.

6. Keep records of everything Pay-and-display receipts, app payment confirmations, photographs of signs, and any correspondence with the operator should all be retained. These form the backbone of any successful appeal.

Looking Ahead: What This Fine Signals for the Industry

The CMA's action against Euro Car Parks is unlikely to be an isolated event. The regulator has made no secret of its interest in consumer-facing sectors where information asymmetry and complex contractual terms leave ordinary people at a disadvantage. Private parking — with its automated cameras, algorithmic enforcement, and opaque appeals processes — is a textbook example of such a sector.

Several broader developments are worth watching:

• The Private Parking Code of Practice remains in a state of flux following legal challenges from industry bodies. Whenever a finalised version takes effect, it will impose stricter standards on signage, charges, and appeals — and operators who have grown accustomed to the current grey areas will face a significant adjustment.
• The CMA's ongoing investigation into Euro Car Parks' substantive practices (as opposed to its compliance with the information notice) could yet produce further findings. If those findings point to systemic consumer harm, the penalties could be considerably larger.
• Other major operators will be watching closely. A fine of this magnitude for merely failing to respond to an information request sends an unambiguous message: the era of treating regulatory inquiries as optional is over.

For drivers, the most important takeaway is this — the regulatory environment around private parking is shifting in your favour. Authorities are paying attention, enforcement is tightening, and the days when a parking company could operate with minimal oversight appear to be numbered.

That's not a reason to park recklessly or ignore legitimate charges. But it is a reason to know your rights, challenge unfair notices with confidence, and trust that the regulatory machinery — however slowly it sometimes moves — is beginning to work as it should.

Source: DWF Group legal analysis of the CMA's fine against Euro Car Parks. The CMA's underlying investigation into Euro Car Parks' consumer practices remains ongoing at the time of publication.