Frequently Asked Questions

Please note: Throughout this page the phrase ‘on-street’ also includes local authority-managed public car parks which, although ‘off-street’, are usually managed using the same legal powers.

What is Civil Parking Enforcement?

The Road Traffic Act 1991 introduced the concept of local authorities undertaking enforcement of parking management schemes. This system was called Decriminalised Parking Enforcement (DPE). Parking ‘offences’ became ‘contraventions’ and parking attendants employed by the relevant local authority, issued [civil] Parking Charge Notices (PCNs) where previously traffic wardens employed by the police undertook the enforcement and issued [criminal] Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs). This reflected the need for police to concentrate on core policing priorities, with traffic wardens continuing to deal with moving traffic offences and the management of Red Routes.

Commencing in London, the system has been extended across the UK and over 200 local authorities, in all of our cities and major towns, now operate DPE.

The Traffic Management Act 2004 calls this Civil Parking Enforcement, making the change from Decriminalised Parking Enforcement, and expands the range of contraventions that can be managed in this way. Legally speaking, parking attendants will be known as Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs).

When do the new Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) regulations come into force?

On 31 March 2008 the new regulations were introduced in England and Wales.

Where in the country will the new regulations be used?

CPE will initially only apply in those parts of England and Wales where local authorities currently undertake parking enforcement. Around 200 councils do this at present, but the number is growing all the time.

What are the main changes?

• The new CPE regulations will introduce proportionality. The motorist will benefit from having the Penalty Charge more closely aligned with the seriousness of the contravention, with parking on a yellow line incurring a higher penalty than simply over-staying in a parking place.

• Persistent evaders, who breach the system regularly or often, should have penalties which are more punitive than first-time contraventions. Persistent evaders are those with three or more recorded contraventions for a vehicle which have gone unpaid. When this occurs, it could result in a more rapid immobilisation or removal of the vehicle and information could be made available to the police to help them investigate whether there is any associated criminal activity.

• Changes in the regulations will mean that all CPE local authorities will be able to issue PCNs by post when camera evidence is available or when CEOs are prevented from serving notices by threat or actual violence, or to motorists who regularly contravene the rules but simply drive away when they see a CEO. Authorities outside London will also be able to enforce obstruction of dropped footways (areas lowered to form ramps for wheelchairs and baby buggies, for example) and double parking, although this is not expected to be universally adopted in the early stages.

• There will be an increased discount period for PCNs sent by post from 14 days to 21, except where violence or threats of violence prevented the service of the PCN, in which case it remains at 14 days.

• The new regulations will also give more power to independent adjudicators. They will have the power to refer cases back to local authorities where a parking contravention has taken place, but in mitigating circumstances, and they can ask the local authority chief executives to consider withdrawal of the PCN. They will also consider cases where the authority has not followed the correct procedures.  Local Authorities have 35 days to respond to adjudicators and if they do not responded by in this time the adjudicator's decision will be final.  

What are the current levels for Penalty Charge Notices, and what will the level be for the new two-tier system?

A local authority may set penalty charges in accordance with different bands in different parts of its area, provided that all the charges in each part of its area are set in accordance with the same band.

Higher level contraventions for on-street parking are those falling within one or more of the following descriptions:

• Parked in a restricted street during prescribed hours
• Parked or loading/unloading in a restricted street where waiting and loading/unloading restrictions are in force
• Parked in a residents’ or shared use parking place without clearly displaying either a permit or voucher or pay and display ticket issued for that place
• Parked in a permit space without displaying a valid permit
• Using a vehicle in a parking place in connection with the sale or offering or exposing for sale of goods when prohibited
• Parked in a loading gap marked by a yellow line
• Parked in a suspended bay/space or part of bay/space
• Parked in a parking place or area not designated for that class of vehicle
• Parked in a loading place during restricted hours without loading
• Vehicle parked more than 50 centimetres from the edge of the carriageway and not within a designated parking place
• Parked adjacent to a dropped footway
• Parked in a designated disabled persons' parking place without clearly displaying a valid disabled persons' badge
• Parked in a parking place designated for police vehicles
• Parked on a taxi rank
• Stopped where prohibited (on a Red Route or clearway)
• Stopped on a restricted bus stop or stand
• Stopped in a restricted area outside a school
• Parked with one or more wheels on any part of an urban road other than a carriageway (footway parking)
• Stopped on a pedestrian crossing and/or crossing area marked by zig-zags

This list is not exhaustive - full details of the contraventions are included in a downloadable PDF file, which is available from the Office of Public Sector Information website (www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2007/pdf/uksi_20073487_en.pdf):