- App service fees can increase some parking bills by up to 40 per cent.
- Charges tested ranged from 10p to 30p, with some fees revealed only at checkout.
- Councils and app providers differ over who is responsible for making extra costs clear.
UK drivers are being urged to check the final price when paying for parking through mobile apps, after tests found that additional service fees can push some bills up by as much as 40 per cent.
Councils across England, including several in London, have removed traditional pay-and-display machines or increasingly encouraged motorists to use apps. The services can make payments more convenient, but they may also add charges that are not included in the advertised parking tariff.
These fees are typically between 10p and 30p. While that may appear modest, the extra cost can be substantial when the original parking charge is low. The Guardian’s tests of parking apps found that fees were not always clearly explained until the final stages of the payment process.
The issue is particularly relevant where an app is the only available way to pay, or when a ticket machine is out of order. Drivers may have little practical choice but to use the digital service and accept its additional charge.
How much extra are drivers paying through parking apps?
The impact varies by location and provider. In Harrogate, North Yorkshire, a mandatory 30p service fee on an 80p town-centre parking tariff increases the total by 37.5 per cent, or approximately 38 per cent.
At Christleton Road car park in Chester, a 20p convenience fee added to a 50p tariff for two hours of parking raises the total to 70p, an increase of 40 per cent.
RingGo added a 20p convenience fee to a £2 tariff at Kings Yard in Lancaster. PayByPhone charged 15p on top of a £5.10 tariff at Dudley Street car park in Birmingham.
At Charmouth Road car park in Lyme Regis, Dorset, JustPark added a 12p transaction fee to a £3.50 parking charge. MiPermit charged a 10p convenience fee on top of a £1.90 tariff in Littlehampton, West Sussex.
The tests found differences in how these charges were presented. In some cases, drivers needed to click a small information symbol or expand a section of the payment screen to understand why the total had increased.
Optional text-message services can add another expense. Drivers who choose to receive booking confirmations or alerts before their parking expires may pay an additional 10p to 30p per message.
Why are parking app fees not always clear upfront?
Parking apps can save councils the cost of installing and maintaining physical ticket machines. While some local authorities pay providers directly, others allow providers to recover some or all of their costs through fees charged to motorists.
The charges can vary by council, location and provider, making it difficult for drivers to predict the final amount from the advertised parking tariff alone.
The Advertising Standards Authority says quoted prices should include all mandatory fees for a contract to be valid. However, the arrangements can be complicated because drivers may enter one agreement with the council for parking and a separate agreement with the app provider for the payment service.
This distinction may affect whether an app provider’s fee must appear on the council’s parking signs. It does not remove the importance of clearly explaining the total price before a driver confirms payment.
The providers disputed aspects of the criticism over how their charges were displayed.
RingGo said its convenience fee funded the service it provided and that councils decided whether to display the fee on parking signs. Adam Dolphin, of its parent company Arrive, said: “In line with existing regulations, wherever pricing information is shown in the RingGo app, we also display any additional fees.”
JustPark said mandatory fees were included in the price quoted during payment. “Nothing is added at the payment stage,” a spokesperson said, adding that the information symbol explained how the total price was calculated.
PayByPhone also said its pricing was transparent. A spokesperson reportedly said: “The pricing elements related to parking, SMS options and service fees are presented before payment confirmation.”
The Local Government Association, which represents councils, reportedly said app providers were responsible for ensuring their fees were clear and upfront. The Department for Transport said parking tariffs and surcharges were matters for councils, but stressed that motorists should be able to see what they would pay before completing a transaction.
An AA spokesperson said: “When a driver walks to the signs in the car park and sees £1 per hour, that’s what they should be charged, not £1 plus a 25p service charge.”
For motorists, the practical lesson is to check the final total before confirming a payment, look for service fees and consider whether optional text alerts are necessary. But where councils make apps the only payment route, clearer information about the full cost remains central to ensuring drivers know what they are agreeing to pay.
