Parking fines: Are motorists being taken for a ride?

There are concerns about private parking firms handing out millions of tickets to motorists, and using personal details obtained legally to chase up fines.

The industry is worth an estimated £1.5billion, an investigation by ITV's Tonight programme has found.

There are now a record 30 million cars on Britain’s roads. With more vehicles on the road, there are less parking spaces. This has allowed parking management companies to make huge profits at shopping centres, railway stations and even NHS hospitals..

There have also been accusations some companies are using the system to bully drivers into paying. Parking company can often go to the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency to access the car owner’s name and address to chase them up, if tickets aren't paid.

Sophie Openshaw from the Rhondda is one of those hit by parking fines at the University Hospital of Wales.

Despite being told by security to ignore her tickets, she received a lawyers letter saying she owed an outstanding fee of £642 when her hospital permit was stuck inside her crushed car.

Here's Sophie's story:

However the parking company Indigo says it made numerous attempts to contact Sophie but she hadn't responded. They dispute any staff member would tell her to ignore the tickets.

There have been concerns about whether our personal details should be handed out to parking companies. The RAC Foundation is questioning the quantity of drivers' details being legally handed over by the DVLA to private parking firms.

Tony Taylor used to be a parking warden but now helps people appeal their parking tickets and has had more than a thousand successful wins. He believes it's a way to make money than managing parking.