Drivers puzzled on parking fine rules as UK’s biggest carpark chain goes bust

The organisation has gone bust after struggling with depleting numbers of people using car parking since Covid 19, with the Ukraine war only adding to financial pressures

Britain’s biggest car park operator has gone bust, leaving hundreds of jobs at risk.

National Car Parks (NCP) employs 682 people and manages around 340 car parks across the country, including in major towns and city centres, airports and at hospitals.

PwC, the administrator tasked with determining the firm’s future, said Covid was one of the reasons NCP had struggled to stay afloat as the demand for parking reduced significantly.

PwC added that NCP could not afford to pay its creditors after consistently losing money. It is now looking to sell the business as the “best outcome” for those NCP owes money to.

“All sites are open, staff remain in post, and trading continues as normal,” PwC added. “We will be engaging with landlords, employees, and other stakeholders as we explore all options.” The company was founded in 1931 and runs 340 car parks across the UK.

Despite being one of the biggest car park operators, its debts have reached £305million as of September last year, according to a filing from its parent company.

Among the options to secure NCP’s future is to sell some or all of the company, with PwC explaining it had a “high concentration” of flexible leases that prevented them from reducing costs or scrapping unprofitable car parks.

Zelf Hussain, joint administrator and PwC partner, said: “Our priority on appointment is to ensure continuity of service while we undertake a detailed review of the business.”

He added that the company has faced a “challenging trading environment” in recent years. NCP’s parent company Park24, which is Japanese, said the Ukraine war has also put pressure on the business as energy prices rose.

It said NCP “pursued new car park developments to support revenue growth”, as well as implementing cost-cutting measures, but “structural losses continued”.

The news has left some UK drivers wondering what happens now if you owe a parking fine to the company that has now gone bust – and if you still want to park in one of their spaces.

One person wrote on Reddit: “Can we park for free now? I assume probably not but thought I’d ask just in case…”

Another wrote: “All they have to do is collect passive money and hire minimal staff, how on earth does this go bankrupt.”

According to StepChange, a debt charity, outstanding parking fines are usually sold to administrators or debt collection agencies, meaning the debt remains valid and payable. While the original company ceases operations, the right to collect that debt is often transferred to a third party to recover assets for creditors.

NCP’s parking charges vary depending on location but some of their central London locations can cost up to £60 for 24 hours.

Gervais Williams, chair of equities at investment management company Premier Miton, told BBC’s Today Programme: “I think the usage of car parks has gone down, but I think the most important thing about the NCP car parking group is that actually it had quite a lot of debt.”