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Our parking permits are now virtual - no paper involved!

What is a virtual parking permit?

A virtual parking permit means there's no permit to display on your dashboard. Once you have applied and paid for your permit online, your permit will be active immediately - no need to wait for it to arrive in the post, instead, you will be able to start using it straight away. 

Our parking permit system holds all the details about your permit, including the vehicle registration number. When our enforcement officers are out patrolling, they use a hand-held device linked to the system to check the vehicle is covered by a valid permit. If your vehicle has a valid permit, then no parking fine (penalty charge notice) will be issued.

All of these parking permits are now virtual:

Why switch to virtual parking permits?

There are lots of benefits to virtual parking permits:

No need to display a paper permit on your dashboard

Our parking permit system holds a record of all valid permits. If one of our enforcement officers is patrolling and checks your vehicle registration, as long as it has a valid permit in place, applied for via our online system, they won’t need to take any action.

Quick and easy application process

You can apply and pay for all our parking permits online, via our website, at a time to suit you.

Up to three vehicles per season ticket

If you are a season ticket holder you can have up to three vehicles on your season ticket.

This means that if you own more than one vehicle and like to share the miles between them or use different vehicles for different reasons, you can simply switch which car is ‘live’ on the season ticket via your parking permit online account. 

Answers to all your questions about virtual parking permits

How do I apply for a virtual parking permit?

To apply for a new permit, you will need to set up an online parking permit account. 

Use the links below to go to the relevant webpage to find out more about each of the parking permit options and set up the account you need.

Set up a Resident parking permit account if you want to apply for: 

Set up a non-resident account if you want to apply for:

Set up a business parking permit account if you want to apply for:

Once you have set up your account, simply go to the 'permit applications' tab in your account to apply for the permit you need.

Do I need to provide any documents when I apply for a parking permit?

Yes, you will need to provide documents for most of our parking permits.

All the detail about which documents you need provide will be detailed on the webpage for each permit. Please read the information about the permit you want to apply for carefully, and make sure you have the documents ready before you start your application.

You can upload documents when making your application online. We accept photos or scans of documents, providing the relevant information is clear. If you are applying on a mobile phone you can take a picture of the document and upload it there and then.

Please make sure the name on the documents you provide is the same as the name in your application – it they don’t match we won’t be able to approve your application.

I can’t apply online - how do I get my parking permit / arrange visitor parking?

We understand that some people may need some help with applying for and managing their parking permits online.

You can ask family or friends to help you.

If you don’t have family or friends to help, please contact us so we can to arrange a digital assistance appointment to help you.

Can I renew a parking permit online?

Season ticket renewals

Season tickets can be renewed. 

We will email season ticket holders to remind them to renew a few weeks before their current season ticket expires. 

All other parking permits

For all other parking permits (business, resident, voluntary organisation, healthcare), you will need to re-apply for a new one. 

This is because we need to review your application, including the documents we ask for, each time you want a new permit. 

We will send you an email a few weeks before your current parking permit is due to expire.

Remember you need to allow at least seven working days for us to process your online parking permit application.

How do I arrange parking for my visitors virtually?

Currently, visitor permits for residents living in the CPZ come in the form of books of vouchers. You give the voucher to your visitor for them to display in their windscreen. 

With the virtual system, you can access and allocate your 'visitor parking free allowance' via your online resident parking permit account - no need to leave the house.  

You simply add your visitor’s car details and follow the steps to allocate the hours of parking they will need, from as little as one hour of parking. 

For example, if you live in zone C, you will have an allocation of 350 hours per year. If your visitor is planning to be with you for four hours, you use four hours of your 350 hours allocation, leaving you with 346 hours.

You can add visitors who come to see you regularly as favourites, making it even quicker and easier to arrange their parking each time they visit.

In the past, residents in the CPZ have been sent a new book of visitor permits every November. This year that won’t happen.

If you have paper visitor permits left, you can use them up if you wish - there is no expiry date on the paper visitor permits.

Find out more on our Visitor parking webpage.

Will I be sent a book of visitor parking permits this November?

No. This year, we will not send books of visitor parking permits to people who live in the CPZ.

Instead, once you have run out of the vouchers (or before if you prefer), you can set up a resident parking permit account which will give you access to your free allocation of visitor parking hours.

What if I have visitor parking permits left in the book I had last year – can I still use them?

Yes, you can. There is no expiry date on the paper visitor permits.

Remember, once you get close to the end of the book of visitor permits, you should set up your online resident parking permit account so that once you have used the last paper permit, you can switch to the online system and arrange parking for your visitors quickly and easily.

I can't arrange visitor parking online - what do I do?

We understand that some people may need some help with applying for and managing their visitor parking online.

You can ask family or friends to help you.

If you don’t have family or friends to help, please contact us to arrange a digital assistance appointment.

I still have several months to go on my paper permit – what do I do?

You don’t need to do anything until a few weeks before your current paper permit runs out. 

Your paper parking permit is valid until its expiry date. 

To apply for a new permit, you will need to set up an online parking permit account:

Set up a Resident parking permit account if you want to apply for: 

  • a resident parking permit
  • visitor free parking allowance
  • visitor additional parking allowance
  • a season tickets for one of our car parks

Set up a non-resident account if you want to apply for:

  • a season ticket
  • a waiver

Set up a business parking permit account if you want to apply for:

  • a business parking permit
  • a healthcare parking permit
  • a voluntary organisation parking permit
  • a season tickets for one of our car parks

It takes seven working days for us to process parking permit applications so make sure you leave plenty of time. 

Can I have more than one parking permit account, for example, can I have a resident and a business account?

Yes, you can - we understand some residents may also be business owners.

However, you will need to use a different email address for each account.

If there’s no permit displayed in the dashboard, why won’t I get a fine?

When you apply for a virtual parking permit, all the details about that permit, including the registration number are stored in our system. 

When our enforcement officers are out patrolling, they will use a hand-held device to check the system to ensure the vehicle is covered by a valid permit. If your vehicle has a valid permit, then no parking fine will be issued.

Can I switch the vehicle on my permit?

Yes. For some permits it's as easy as telling us the vehicle details, for others, you will need to prove that you own the vehicle and a fee may apply. 

Go to the 'my permits' section in your parking permit account and follow the steps to change / add a vehicle to your permit.