AN MP has called on the government to crack down on unfair parking penalties in private car parks after winning back £700 for constituents who were wrongly charged.

Labour MP for Redcar, Anna Turley, and her staff have supported a large number of residents in overturning unfair private parking penalty charges.

Ms Turley raised the issue with the Leader of the House of Commons to ask if the government would be supporting a Private Members’ Bill currently passing through Parliament which would introduce a code of practice for private car parks.

In the chamber she told MPs that one of her constituents was penalised by a parking company for dropping off his seriously ill wife at a doctors surgery.

She added: "The Rt Hon Member for East Yorkshire has a Private Members Bill on a code of practice for private parking which passed this place.

"I wondered if perhaps she could update me on when we can expect it to come back to this place and whether it would get government support because I am sure there would be a lot of interest from across the chamber."

The Minister said she was sympathetic and had challenged similar charges for her own constituents.

She promised the government would be working to provide more parliamentary time for the bill to be discussed.

Commenting afterwards, Ms Turley said: “People are being unfairly penalised by private car parks looking to make a quick buck from road users.

"Often the terms and conditions of these car parks are poorly advertised and, as we have proven, the camera systems can make mistakes too.

"PCNs are causing vulnerable people undue stress and I will be keeping the pressure on the government to support a new code of practice.”

Further examples of people Ms Turley has helped win back money include people fined for using a car park to turn around in and overrunning doctor's appointments.