Whether or not a resident owns a car, permits for visitors can be obtained. This is particularly important for people who do not themselves drive but who are used to having family and friends visit their homes.
The visitors permit are scratch cards similar to vouchers but, where the normal 1 hour vouchers are blue the visitor permits are green.
A resident may acquire a stock of visitor permits in advance and then issue them to visitors as they arrive. Each visitor permit is valid for up to four hours and it costs 30p. Application for the permits should be made to the Parking Shop accompanied by a recent Council Tax demand and proof of identity.
To keep a check upon misuse and to avoid an unfair usage of the space available, the Council limits the issue of visitor permits to 104 per annum to households in the zones where the hours of control extend over the whole day and 52 per annum to those where the hours of control extend over only two hours per day. The visitor permits are only valid for one year from the date of issue.
In addition, each Council Taxpayer is entitled to an allocation of two visitor permits that will last for one week each. This is to allow for an extended visit or for a situation where a car is being repaired and a courtesy car is provided by the garage. The week long visitor permit charge will be £2.40.
How to use a Residents' Visitor Permit
The permit must be validated on the day of use by scratching the time of arrival and relevant month and date. The permit must then be displayed in accordance with the instructions on the back.