Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she is taking steps to improve grace periods for parking fines and transparency for the appeal and enforcement process.

A 10-minute grace period became mandatory for all councils in England on 6 April 2015. It applies at local authority owned or operated car parks and at the end of paid-for and free on-street parking in England. The grace period only applies at the end of permitted paid-for or free parking to allow for accidental overstays beyond a driver's control. It does not apply at the start of a period of parking, nor in circumstances where the driver was not permitted to park (i.e. outside the hours of permitted operation of on-street parking).

A requirement for transparency on matters relating to civil parking enforcement is enshrined in the Secretary of State's statutory guidance for local authorities in England on civil enforcement of parking contraventions.