UK’s biggest car park firm in administration – but drivers face fines | UK | News

A parking company which was Britain’s biggest until it became insolvent reportedly has a backlog of nearly 100,000 unpaid fines. National Car Parks (NCP) went out of business in March, but at the time it had about 15,000 fines not yet processed by debt collectors and another 80,000 unpursued fines dating back a number of years.

NCP managed 340 car parks across the country and employed about 681 people. PwC said it struggled post Covid as demand for parking failed to recover to pre-pandemic levels. It was unable to extract itself from loss-making sites and ran out of cash on top of being hit by looming rent payments. Administrators were appointed in a bid to save the business, in part by reviewing the viability of each of its car parks.

The Telegraph reports that PwC acknowledges some of the older outstanding fine payments may never be recovered.

Administrators said that given the age of some of the debts, they would assess the cost of bringing claims for payment against the likelihood of recovery.

PwC expects some creditors, including HM Revenue and Customs, to be paid all the money they are owed within six months.

Last year NCP lost £5.7million after losing £10.1million the year before.

Selected parking sites are expected by PwC to close as the multinational prepares the business for a possible sale.

Since PwC was appointed, NCP has carried on trading, but some loss-making sites have already closed, including Bradford Southgate, Kidderminster Swan Centre and Southampton Portland Terrace.

NCP had been majority owned by Japanese firm Park24 since 2017. The company was originally founded in 1931 and acquired by Central Car Parks in 1959.

Central Car Parks began in 1948 under the leadership of Ronald Hobson and later Sir Donald Gosling. Both men identified a need for parking spaces in London.

The company continued to expand in the 1990s, when it adopted the name, National Car Parks.

NCP fell into administration in March, with Zelf Hussain, Rachael Wilkinson and Toby Banfield of PwC appointed Joint Administrators.