Parking On Street

• Home
• Transport, Streets and Parking
• Parking
• Parking On Street

Not all of the borough of Kingston has controlled parking. At present only the main Kingston and Surbiton shopping centres, their adjacent residential areas and residential areas around the University campus are included within controlled parking zones.

There are also two other main shopping areas (New Malden and Tolworth Broadway) which, whilst they are not in a controlled parking zone, the main roads do have paid-for parking facilities to protect the use of kerb space and prevent congestion.

Legislation Governing Parking

The Road Traffic Act 1991 transferred responsibility for enforcing parking contraventions within a Special Parking Area (SPA) to the Local Authority. Transfer of responsibility for enforcement to the Local Authority resulted in the introduction of parking attendants who replaced the original police service traffic wardens.

The Act also changed the way parking contraventions were dealt with. Prior to the introduction of the Road Traffic Act 1991, fines were imposed by the Police or Traffic Wardens by way of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) or Excess Charge Notices (ECN). If these fines were left unpaid, it could result in the local courts imposing fines, or even the threat of imprisonment to the offending motorist.

As a result of the 1991 Act, the Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), or to give it its more common name ‘Parking Ticket’ was introduced to replace the FPN. Responsibility now fell to the Local Authority to recover unpaid PCN’s as a civil debt rather than a criminal prosecution, albeit with facilities to chase non-payment by means of referral to a bailiff if necessary. Other arrangements were also introduced to assist both the motorist and the local authority.

From the 31 March 2008, new parking rules came into force across England and Wales with the introduction of the parking section of the Traffic Management Act 2004. Most of the changes are to do with the Council's administrative process, however, one major change is that Parking Attendants are now referred to as Civil Enforcement Officers. The new regulations are designed to make the enforcement of parking regulations 'clearer' and 'fairer'. The new regulations can be viewed on the Office of Public Sector Information website, a link to the site is provided at the bottom of this page.

Parking and Traffic Appeals

The Parking and Traffic Appeals Service  was set up to provide a legal and binding means for the motorist to appeal against the payment of a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) if the Local Authority would not agree that an appeal was valid. The Road Traffic Act 1991 also introduced a scheme which gave the motorist the opportunity to pay for a PCN at a discounted rate if payment was made within 14 days of the contravention taking place.

Kingston's Special Parking Area (SPA)

Kingston’s Special Parking Area (SPA) was inaugurated in 1984 and covers the whole borough. The Special Parking Area is divided up into different zones. Each zone, or sub-zone, has its own individual times of parking control which are shown on large signs as you enter the zone. The times of parking control are also shown on parking meters and Pay and Display machines within the zone.