Parking: Automatic Number Plate Recognition
(asked on 27th October 2025) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October to Question 78690 on Automatic Number Plate Recognition, whether his Department plans to change rules on the use of automatic number plate recognition in municipal car parks.
Answered by
Miatta Fahnbulleh
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), or indeed any surveillance technology, as the sole means of enforcement of parking contraventions by local authorities was restricted by the Deregulation Act 2015.
The government has received advice from the Parking and Traffic Regulations Outside London Committee (PATROL), along with the British Parking Association and the Local Government Association, which calls for the granting of ANPR powers to local councils for civil parking enforcement.
The Government has no plans to amend these restrictions as the current ruling ensures non-compliant motorists are made aware that they are contravening parking restrictions at the time of the contravention.