CMA fines Euro car parks for non-compliance

The Competition and Markets Authority (the “CMA”) has issued its first fine under its new direct enforcement powers granted by the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.

Euro Car Parks has been fined £473,000 for not complying with a legal information notice; a core tool that the CMA uses to gather evidence. Information notices can require businesses to provide a wide range of information, such as copies of emails, meeting notes or details about internal roles and responsibilities.

In this case 75% of the maximum possible fixed charge was fined due to the delay and subsequent increased resource cost to the CMA to obtain the information. This case could signal a stronger enforcement era for consumer protection and highlights the risks for businesses that fail to respond promptly to statutory requests

Euro Car Parks initially put forward reasons for its lack of compliance including alleging that the service from the CMA was defective and that they had not responded due to a belief that the attempts by the CMA to contact them were fraudulent. Due to these reasons they suggested that the proposed penalty was excessive.

However, the CMA rejected these arguments outright, noting that:

• Various different contact methods were used by the CMA to contact Euro Car Parks
• All correspondence included official CMA branding
• Email correspondence was sent from a ‘gov.uk’ address
• Euro Car Parks made no attempt to verify the legitimacy of the request
• Euro Car Parks failed to engage with the CMA until the provisional notice was issued 

Final penalty: Fixed, not daily - it could have been higher

In the end the CMA only issued a fixed penalty because Euro Car Parks eventually engaged after receiving the provisional notice request. If they had not, the fine would likely have included an additional daily penalty which could have significantly increased the total fine. Whilst the level of fine could have been decreased due to relevant mitigating factors, in this case no discount was given for previous good behaviour and a clean record sheet. The CMA emphasised that penalties are intended to act as a deterrent for non-compliance not only for the respondent but also the wider market.

At this stage the CMA has not opened an investigation into whether Euro Car Parks has infringed consumer protection law. If this is the cost for failing to respond to a legal notice, it seems reasonable to assume that fines for actual breaches of consumer law will be even more substantial.

Appeal to the High Court

Euro Car Parks has appealed the CMA’s decision (imposed in December 2025). The fine will not be payable until the outcome of the appeal is known. There are limited grounds for appeal so it will be an interesting case to follow.