A CONTROVERSIAL firm, which controls a number of car parks across Southampton, leads the way when it comes to making requests to the DVLA for driver information prior to sending out fines.

Parking Eye, which monitors car parks at Leisure World, Town Quay and The Range in Winchester Road, made 570,000 applications for records obtained across the country.

This was more than was made by its nearest rivals – Smart Parking (125,000) and Euro Car Parks (118,000) – put together.

The figures come amid support for proposed new laws to end the parking industry’s self-regulation.

There were 1.74 million requests made to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) by parking management firms between April and June, compared with 1.06 million in the same period last year.

Parking Eye takes pictures of registration plates, and users are required to enter their registration number into an on-site terminal otherwise they will be fined.

The press has reported that some motorists claim they have been penalised unfairly.

Now there are calls for the government to crack down on the private parking industry and a bill has been tabled by Conservative MP Sir Greg Knight.

The bill, which calls for an introduction of a code of conduct for private car park operators, had its first reading in the House of Commons last week.

The RAC say that tickets are being issued every 4.5 seconds, and RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding said: “These figures are a stark illustration of why Sir Greg’s bill is so badly needed and if there is one piece of legislation which should command cross-party support it is this.

“Self-regulation of the private parking sector has not worked – even many of the big companies acknowledge that – and we are delighted Sir Greg is coming to the rescue.”

The surge in ticketing comes after clamping on private land was banned in 2012 and two years after the coalition government consulted on possible changes to the private parking sector.

The DVLA charges private firms £2.50 per record, suggesting the agency earned £4.4 million from the process in the first quarter of the 2017/18 financial year.

A ParkingEye spokesperson said: “ParkingEye does everything it can to ensure we can act on correct motorist contact information.

“We operate with clear procedures which follow the British Parking Association’s code of practice. We encourage people who have received a parking charge to appeal if they think they should not have received a charge, and instructions about how to do this are on all communications and on our website.”