Controlled Parking Frequently Asked Questions

Payment for parking must be made at the time you park your vehicle.

It is a contravention if you return to your vehicle and put additional money in the parking meter or obtain an additional ticket from pay & display machine. If you park on a meter bay, and the meter shows there is still time left from the previous occupant, then you are allowed free use of the unexpired time. If you intend to stay beyond the available time shown on the meter then you must pay for the additional time immediately.

Pay and Display machines will accept 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, and £1 coins. Certain machines will also accept £2 coins. Parking meters will only accept 20p, 50p and £1 coins.

There is a minimum return period at each parking place. This means that when you have left a particular parking place you are not allowed to return to that particular parking place (a parking place is an individual bay (normally with a meter) or rank of bays (having meters, or pay & display equipment) for a period of 1 or 2 hours depending on the location. This is to ensure that other road users can have the chance to park at that particular place. The maximum time period will be shown on a plate attached to the meter or on a large sign next to the pay & display machine.

On all roads that exit from a zone there will be placed a zone ends sign.

Where there is a boundary between two zones, for example when the times of control change between the two, there will not be a zone ends sign but there will be another controlled zone entry sign to indicate the controlled hours applicable to the zone you are now entering.

You may only park on street during controlled hours within a dedicated parking space or parking bay. There are different types of bays for various road users. For a detailed explanation visit the Parking Bays page. (see links at the bottom of the page)

Outside the times of controlled parking, you may park without payment on any meter, pay & display or shared-use bay. You may also use resident or permit parking bays but you should check the hours of control because in some areas, close to the town centre for example, resident’s and permit bays have extended controls into the evenings and at weekends. You may also park on single yellow lines (see below).

Single and Double Yellow Lines

If a Public or Bank Holiday falls on a day when restrictions are in operation (e.g. Mondays), the restrictions will apply in the normal way unless a sign plate specifically states that they will not. Single yellow line restrictions follow the normal hours of control within a zone or the hours of control shown on kerbside sign plates.

For further information, please see Public and Bank Holiday Restrictions