General information
The information here is intended to provide residents, businesses, shoppers and other visitors to the City Centre with details about the operation of the St Albans City Centre Parking Scheme.
The streets included within the scheme can be seen by viewing the map
From the start date of Monday 14 June 1999, drivers will need either permits or vouchers to park in the streets during the hours of control.
The General Arrangements
The scheme consists of two distinct and separate forms of control:-
For shoppers, tourists and business visitors:
The City Centre is a Voucher Parking Zone and, to park in most of the on-street parking spaces you will need a voucher. At the entries to the Voucher Parking Zone, all around the City Centre, there are zone boundary signs.
For residents:
There is a resident permit zone system operating in many of the streets within the Voucher Parking Zone. There are 17 permit zones labelled A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R and S.
To park in the marked bays in the City Centre during the hours of control, you will need either a voucher or a permit. To find out which are needed in each location, you must read the roadside signs.
The hours of control are generally the same for the voucher scheme as for the permit scheme and they vary depending upon location. Close in to the City Centre the hours are 8.30am to 8.OOpm Monday to Saturday but areas further away are generally either 10.30am to 12.30pm or 1.30pm to 3.30pm Monday to Friday. There are some localised variations but these are described on the roadside signs. In some streets only permit parking allowed and in others, only voucher parking is allowed.
Some streets have no marked bays and parking is permitted for the hours that have previously existed. Where this happens as, for example, in Victoria Street, signs are located. Outside the hours of control, parking is not restricted in the marked bays. Parking should not take place where it would endanger or inconvenience pedestrians or other road users and it should not obstruct emergency vehicles. Solo motorcycles may park free in any marked bay but they are requested to use the small areas which have been specifically marked for them. Vehicles over 2.28m height are not permitted to park in the marked bays during the controlled hours. Vehicles must park within the bay markings. It is an offence to straddle the markings.
Vehicles may not be parked across vehicle entrances such that they cause an obstruction to the owner of the entrance. The owner of the entrance may give permission to a driver to use this space, provided the driver displays a valid permit or voucher.