A tenner is up for grabs for people who snap illegally parked cars using a private car park company's controversial phone app.

UK Car Park Management, which operates car parks for the likes of McDonalds, Halfords, Tesco and the NHS, is offering a £10 bounty to app users to upload a picture of the dodgy parking job, as well as its registration number.

Before now firms like UK CPM relied on their own private traffic wardens or installing Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, so this latest move has been criticised for cashing in on minor driving misdemeanours.

But defiant CPM boss James Randall said: “The problem is not with the app but with drivers that do not respect people’s land.

“The photo uploaded to the app is just the evidence and every one is looked at by a member of staff before a ticket is printed.”

The company offers 'complete confidentiality' to the unqualified app users who report drivers to claim £10 for every paid ticket.

Motorists are sent a letter demanding £60, which rises to £100 after 14 days without payment.

One of the tickets
One of the tickets

The 'quick and discreet' service lets any land or business owner register online and allows them or their staff to start dishing out their own parking charges.

The RAC has blasted the scheme as a 'recipe for disaster' and could lead to fights between drivers and app users photographing their vehicles.

RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: “This is wrong on so many levels it beggars belief.

“The sharp practices of parking companies are already regularly called into question with paid officials dishing out fines, but with members of the public being financially encouraged to shop motorists who overstay, it’s a recipe for disaster.

“This will cause total chaos by undermining trust still further and may even lead to public order offences between drivers and members of the public looking to earn a quick £10.”

Edmund King, president of the AA, said: “We hoped that outlawing cowboy clampers would have got rid of these sharp practices but it seems that some of the modern day highwaymen are alive and well.

“Even Dick Turpin did his own dirty work without relying on others.

“Getting drivers to do their dirty work shows the lengths that some parking companies will go to in order to get drivers to stand and deliver their profits.”

Brighton-based CPM states on its website: “Not only is the service free, you even receive £10 commission for every paid parking ticket!

“With three simple steps CPM will issue a parking ticket to the vehicle owner using DVLA data and the postal service.

“Complete privacy! Not only is the issuing process quick and discrete, CPM also operates under complete confidentiality.

“Our parking tickets and signs have no reference to yourself, all correspondence are designed to make the motorist believe they have been caught by a CPM patrol warden.”

CPM was founded in September 2010 by managing director Randall, aged 32, and sales director Lukhbir ‘Lucky’ Gohler, 31.

The pair are old school friends who set up their first private parking firm in 2007 when they were both aged 21.

Other companies listed as having CPM-run car parks include Virgin Atlantic, Aviva and David Lloyd gyms.

Halfords said it does not directly employ CPM, but some of its site owners may do.