Britain’s biggest car parking app RingGo raked in a record £30m from parking fees last year amid growing disquiet from drivers about rising charges.
RingGo charges local councils for managing parking payments at public car parks and roads, a charge which is then passed on to drivers in the form of a “convenience fee”, typically 20p.
Councils have been accused of using parking apps to raise the cost of parking, with drivers spending a record £1.8bn at car parks and paid-for roadside spaces in 2022-23. The AA has said councils are using drivers as a “cash cow”.
Accounts for RingGo Limited showed that it generated turnover of £29.9m in 2023, up 16pc on the previous year. Revenues have doubled over five years, up from £15.7m in 2018.
The company’s pre-tax profits rose to £6.1m, up from £5.1m a year earlier.
It said the RingGo app had seen a record number of parking bookings, and that 10.3m people used the app last year, compared to 9.4m the year before.
“The 15.9pc increase in turnover has primarily been driven through increased penetration of both new motorists and increased transaction frequency… as motorists continue to move away from cash and into digital channels,” the company said. “The directors are delighted with how the company has performed in 2023.”
RingGo also makes money from fees at private car parks, and from charging for text message reminders when motorists choose to pay via text message instead of using the app.
The company, which started in 2009, has around 17,000 locations in the UK.
The Department for Transport is introducing a “national parking platform” that will give drivers the opportunity to choose what parking app they use in public car parks, potentially driving down the cost of fees.
RingGo is owned by the Swedish technology business EasyPark. Last year the company said there are around 250m cashless parking transactions in Britain every year.
Many councils have removed cash payment stations or failed to replace broken ones, in many cases because mobile operators have switched off the 3G networks that they rely on.
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