Private parking companies rely on the DVLA to turn a photographed number plate into a name and address, so the number of those requests is one of the clearest measures of how much camera-based parking enforcement has grown. It has grown quickly.
In 2018-19, operators made 6.81 million requests for registered vehicle-keeper records. By 2024-25 that had reached 14.37 million.
What this measures: DVLA vehicle-keeper data requests, used as an indicator of private parking activity. It is not an official count of individual parking notices, and several requests could in principle concern the same vehicle.
It is worth being precise about what this counts. These are requests for vehicle-keeper data, which the RAC used as an indicator of private parking activity. They are not a definitive count of tickets, and the same vehicle could sit behind more than one request.
The figure is often quoted alongside the industry Code of Practice. Any statement about that code should be read as its status at the time of the July 2025 analysis, not as a settled fact.
Why it matters
Private parking is a separate system from official road charges like the Dartford Crossing or ULEZ. But the trend shows how much of everyday driving now runs on cameras and databases, which is exactly why it is easy to lose track of what you owe and to whom.