CMA cracks down on petrol station parking fines for drivers

Drivers were hit with charges at petrol stations for doing little more than waiting to buy fuel, using a car wash or charging an electric vehicle. The Competition and Markets Authority stepped up action against private parking operators after those complaints, and in 2024 it was taking action to drive improvements for motorists, including opening investigations and sending advisory letters to consumer-facing companies over parking and pricing practices.

One case involved a Shell forecourt penalty of £60 after a woman stopped to breastfeed her baby. Another involved a BP driver who was fined £100 for taking too long. Elsewhere, drivers at a BP garage in Wythenshawe were hit with £100 parking charges after spending more than 15 minutes on site, while other motorists have faced demands for staying longer than 20 minutes at forecourts.

The systems measure only when a vehicle enters and leaves a site, not what the driver was actually doing in between. A queue for fuel, a stop at the car wash or a session at an EV charger can all be treated as if they were unauthorized parking, even when the driver is a paying customer.

These demands are private parking charge notices, not official fines, and drivers can challenge them if they believe they were issued unfairly. The government has already consulted on a new code of practice to stop motorists being unfairly penalised by private car park operators, after complaints about confusing signs, aggressive debt collection, misleading rules and excessive fees.

Later action saw the regulator send warning letters to hundreds of petrol-station operators over Fuel Finder breaches, and in February 2026 it fined Euro Car Parks £473,000 for failing to comply with a legal information notice.