App-only parking adds up to 40% to English drivers' bills as van diesel costs rise £2.5bn

Many councils across England, including a number in London, have removed pay-and-display machines and replaced them with app payments. Most local authorities encourage drivers to pay by app to avoid queues, and apps are often the only way to pay when ticket machines are out of order. Many car park signs, however, do not mention that app payments can carry an additional service fee.

Apps save councils the cost of installing and maintaining ticket machines. A few councils pay app providers directly, but many leave drivers to cover some or all of the bill through "convenience fees" or "service fees" that typically range from 10p to 30p. These sums are not included in the advertised parking tariffs, even where the app is the only way to pay, and are often not prominently flagged inside the apps.

In Harrogate, North Yorkshire, drivers parking in the town centre and paying by app are charged a mandatory 30p service fee, a 38% increase on an 80p tariff. Two hours at the council's Christleton Road car park in Chester rises 40% when a 20p convenience fee is added to the 50p tariff. Drivers who agree to receive booking confirmations and expiry alerts pay a further 10p to 30p per text.

None of the apps tested by the Guardian displayed the service fee clearly before the payment stage, and some required customers to click an information symbol to learn why the price had risen. RingGo added a 20p convenience fee to the £2 tariff at Kings Yard in Lancaster, with the charge visible through a small "see prices" link and again only when the "i" symbol beside the final price is clicked. PayByPhone charged 15p on top of the £5.10 tariff at Dudley Street car park in Birmingham, a charge explained only on the payment page and hidden behind the Apple Pay button. JustPark's transaction fee added 12p to a £3.50 charge at Charmouth Road car park in Lyme Regis, Dorset, and was reachable only through a small pale grey "i" symbol. MiPermit listed its 10p convenience fee above the final price at the end of the booking on a £1.90 charge in Littlehampton, West Sussex.

The Advertising Standards Authority says quoted prices must include all mandatory fees for a contract to be valid, and drivers enter a contract with a council as soon as they accept the car park's terms and park. Few drivers realise they enter a separate contract with the app provider when they pay online, so app fees may not legally have to appear on council signs. Because the fees are agreed between individual councils and app providers and vary by location, drivers have no way of predicting what they will be charged.

RingGo said the fee funded the service it provided and that displaying it on car park signs was a matter for the councils it works with. "In line with existing regulations, wherever pricing information is shown in the RingGo app, we also display any additional fees," said Adam Dolphin of its parent company, Arrive. JustPark said mandatory fees were included in the price quoted during payment and that "nothing is added at the payment stage", describing its "i" icon as a breakdown of the all-in price. PayByPhone said its pricing was transparent and that parking, SMS and service fee elements are presented before payment confirmation. MiPermit was contacted for comment.

The Local Government Association, which represents councils, said it was up to app providers to make their fees clear and upfront. The Department for Transport said parking tariffs and surcharges were a matter for councils, adding that "drivers should be able to see clearly what they will be charged before they pay for parking". A spokesperson for the AA said that if a driver sees £1 an hour on a car park sign, that is what should be charged, "not £1 plus a 25p service charge".

Separately, analysis for the Guardian by Moneysupermarket put the combined pump bill for diesel vans and pickups at almost £8.5bn this year, against £5.95bn last year, as diesel prices reached record highs after disruption to refineries in the Middle East and Russia. The comparison site warned last week that the average van driver's fuel bill could reach £1,965 this year, up from £1,294 in 2025 on typical mileage and consumption. About 95% of light commercial vehicles still run on diesel, and the number of vans on British roads has grown with online shopping, home deliveries and self-employment in trades.

The average pump price climbed above £2 a litre for the first time this month, up more than 40% since late February, when the US-Israel war on Iran began disrupting supplies of crude and refined products from the Gulf. The Road Haulage Association is calling on the chancellor to abandon plans to raise fuel duty by 3p a litre from 1 January and a further 2p from 1 March, and to introduce a 15p-a-litre rebate for British van, coach and haulage operators, after similar help was offered in Spain, France and Italy. "Many of our members run on margins of around 2%," said the RHA's managing director, Richard Smith. "A fuel duty hike is a food price hike." RAC data show diesel is about 57p a litre higher than before the US-Iran conflict and petrol 42p higher, meaning households pay £31 and £23 more respectively to fill a family car. The RAC's head of policy, Simon Williams, said this year is still set to be the second most expensive on record for drivers and that the government could extend the fuel duty cut or reduce VAT. The Guardian reported that on Friday the US president, Donald Trump, moved to ease pump prices for US drivers in an announcement that infuriated Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The UK government was contacted for comment.

Editor's Summary

Councils in England that have removed pay-and-display machines are leaving drivers to absorb app service fees of 10p to 30p that are rarely shown on car park signs or before the final payment screen, adding as much as 40% to some hourly tariffs. App providers say their pricing is transparent, while councils and the Department for Transport say fee disclosure is a matter for providers. In the same period, diesel van operators face almost £8.5bn in fuel costs this year, up from £5.95bn, prompting haulage and motoring groups to press the government to drop planned fuel duty rises and offer a 15p-a-litre rebate.