Draft Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Definition of Relevant Land) (Amendment) Order 2025

Keir Mather Excerpts

Tuesday 21st October 2025 General Committees

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Keir Mather)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Definition of Relevant Land) (Amendment) Order 2025.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. The draft order was laid before the House on Monday 8 September. Railway operators currently use a combination of enforcement regimes to recover unpaid parking charges at railway station car parks, resulting in inconsistency and complexity for both operators and passengers. Some rely on criminal enforcement set out in the railway byelaws, while others work with agents who rely on contractual arrangements with motorists. With the introduction of Great British Railways, my Department expects a consistent level of service to be offered across the network. Therefore, this order will bring car parks that are located on railway land within England and Wales into the scope of the same civil enforcement regime that applies to all other car parks on private land.

Previously, railway station car parks were excluded from the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, which I shall now refer to as POFA, because they were subject to the railway byelaws, which meant that unpaid parking charges could be enforced only under those byelaws. Schedule 4 to POFA facilitates the recovery of unpaid car parking charges from the keeper or hirer of a vehicle parked in private car parks. It sets out detailed requirements regarding the provision of notices and the appeals processes. However, railway station car parks are currently excluded from that regime.

This change will ensure a consistent, civil enforcement regime for all railway station car parks across the Great British Railways network. It will ensure that passengers have the same protection that they would have when parking in other car parks on private land, including access to an independent appeals service. An industry consultation showed support for amending the railway byelaws to remove criminal liability for parking breaches and instead using the civil enforcement regime set out under POFA.

These changes will standardise the approach to the recovery of unpaid car parking charges from the keeper of a vehicle parked in railway station car parks. To support this order, changes to the railway byelaws will be made at the same time to remove the criminal enforcement regime that is currently in place and allow this legislation to take effect. This shift from the criminal enforcement regime to the civil regime provides passengers with an independent appeals service and allows the same framework that applies to all other private car parks to apply to railway station car parks.

The order will ensure that unpaid car parking charges on railway land are recovered in a way that is clearer and consistent for both operators and passengers. With POFA now applying to railway car parks, this will also provide passengers with an independent appeals service that will be used by all train operating companies in England and Wales. I commend the order to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Keir Mather]

I thank the official Opposition spokesperson and the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage for their contributions. I will take each of their points in turn.

I recognise and agree that we are seeking to avoid excessive revenue and the unfortunate conduct that is perpetrated by some private providers of car parking spaces. Motorists should not have to operate in a climate of fear and uncertainty when they park their car, as they try to go about their daily lives, get to work, see their families and use our transport network. That is exactly what we seek to remedy through today’s changes.

The official Opposition spokesperson pointed to the need for proper process and proportionality. I will come to that in regard to the reviews to which he referred and the parking code of practice. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is consulting on a parking code of practice for the operation and management of private parking facilities. To the point made by the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage, this will set an industry standard that will cover enforcement and signage requirements, and will encourage consistency across the industry. We have aligned the laying of this statutory instrument with that consultation, which will avoid train operating companies having to change their parking signs twice in regard to any regulations that we may pass.

A consultation was also held in 2020 relating to this specific provision with the devolved Governments, train operators, passenger rights groups and industry stakeholders. The feedback from that consultation indicated overall support for the proposed changes, and a working group was established with stakeholders to address specific concerns that were raised. Those have directly informed the provisions in this statutory instrument.

I echo and agree with the sentiments expressed by the Opposition spokespersons around the need to avoid excessive overreach in this space, to ensure proportionality, and to have clear and understandable codes of practice. This is something that we want motorists parking at railway car parks across the United Kingdom to benefit from. I think those aims are reflected in this statutory instrument, which is why I commend it to the Committee.

Question put and agreed to.