“There’s really only one reason why we have roads and motorways and that’s for people going from one parking space to a other parking space” – Mike Robinson Parking Manager Portsmouth City Council.  

Parking affects everyone, whether you drive a Rolls Royce or a lorry. This new series looks at how Brits uniquely deal with the over 35 million vehicles taking up the finite space available on their small island.

With access to campaigners and councils, we witness the on-going war between motorists and parking enforcers.  In the campaigning corner we film an ex-political reporter, a B&B owner and a 97-year-old ballet teacher. 

In the enforcers’ corner are the councils giving out four million parking tickets, and so we enter civil enforcement world, filming local authorities in Hampshire, Herefordshire and Yorkshire as they dish out the fines and catch people out on the high street and in car parks, as well as mounting special blue-badge fraud operations.

To try and sort out the mess there is a special parking court – The Traffic Penalty Tribunal. They deal with over 21,000 parking disputes a year from everyday motorists fighting to get off their fines. With exclusive access to courts around the country we see the drama unfold as drivers come face to face with lawyers deciding whether to let them off or not.

With the increasing prevalence of the camera phone, many people are filming civil enforcement officers as they patrol the streets and receive the increasing abuse be it through song or something more dangerously physical. We pick the best of the crop and reveal the prevailing attitude towards parking.

From Devon to Dewsbury, Whitby to Wales this documentary series hears first hand from people passionate about parking.  Whether being in court for the first time using a ruler as a defence or being a rookie civil enforcement officer sticking a fine on the mayor’s car… we film on both sides of the yellow line.