Apply for a Business or Educational Parking Permit

Terms and conditions – Virtual Business Permit

Qualification – To qualify for a Virtual Business Permit you must demonstrate:

• The business has no space to park within the curtilage of the premises.
• The Company is registered for business rates.
• Vehicles are essential to the business because they are needed for collection, deliveries, or regular site visits.
• Vehicles are based with the business within St Albans City & District.
• The vehicle is an operational vehicle registered and insured with the business OR Applicant’s Own Vehicle for Business Use

Application Criteria – Proof

• A current copy of your National Non-Domestic Rate (Business Rate).
• Valid certificate of insurance to prove that the vehicle or vehicles are being used for business purposes.
• The V5 document.
• Sole Trader’s Vehicle for Businesses: A letter must be submitted from the business accountant validating the business name and address and the need to use the vehicle for business purposes.

As part of our policy to prevent fraud and misuse of permits, we can ask for proof documents at any time. This includes after we've issued the permit. If you don't give us the necessary information within 14 days, we can cancel the permit.

Permits are issued on a priority basis. The Council reserves the right to limit the number of permits issued in each zone.

Permits are not valid until your eligibility has been approved.

Virtual Business Permit Conditions of Use

• Business Permits are valid in
• Resident Bays
• Shared Use Bays
• Only 1 permit permitted per business.
• The permit does not guarantee a parking space or give special parking rights.
• The vehicle must be parked within the allocated parking bay markings.
• Virtual permits should only be used in the controlled parking zone it has been allocated for.
• The permit is only valid for the vehicle registered on the account. You can include two registration numbers but, only one vehicle may use the business permit at any one time.
• It is the responsibility of the account holder to ensure the virtual permit is assigned to the correct vehicle.
• Your vehicle can be either a motorcycle, passenger vehicle or a light goods vehicle with no more than 8 seats. The overall height should not exceed 2.3 metres. The length should not exceed 5.5 metres.
• The Council reserves the right to amend these terms and conditions, application procedures and the relevant Traffic Regulation Orders at any time.
• By applying for or purchasing any type of permit, the applicant:
• certifies that all the information that the applicant has given in the application process is correct.
• accepts the Council’s terms and conditions as varied from time to time together with any terms and conditions stated on the letter to which the permit is attached at the time of issue.
• agrees to be bound by and comply with the relevant Traffic Regulation Orders which may be varied from time to time.
• The permit is not transferable.
• Permits are valid for a 12-month period and will need to be renewed by the permit holder each year by logging into their online permit account. Whilst every effort will be made to send reminder emails to the account holder prior to expiry date, it is the permit holder’s responsibility to renew.
• Business permit prices are reviewed annually and any changes made through a Notice of Variation on the Councils Website and in the Press. 
• Permit holders are required to move their vehicle if requested to do so by a Civil Enforcement Officer or by the Police.
• Not complying with the terms and conditions may result in the issue of a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).

Change of vehicle - When you change your vehicle you should immediately change your registration on your account. Your existing permit is only valid on the vehicle/s which matches the registration number registered on your online account.

Parking Suspensions - From time to time it may be necessary to suspend a parking bay, this is normally due to road works being carried out by the utility companies, such as gas or electricity. During the period for which the bay is suspended, parking is not permitted in the bay. Even if a valid permit exists, a PCN will still be issued.

It is the permit holder's responsibility to ensure that the bay in which their vehicle is parked is not suspended during the time their vehicle is there.

Refunds - If you no longer require your virtual permit you may apply for a refund. Please visit your online account and select the option cancel permit. An administration fee of £13.20 will be deducted per virtual permit cancelled. Refunds are calculated on how many full calendar months remain on your virtual permit. No refunds will be given where the amount owing is the same as or less than the administration fee.

Privacy Notice for parking permits and penalty charge notices (PCN)

This privacy notice explains how St Albans City & District Council (the Data Controller) will use any personal information we collect about you when you use our services, when you are paying a penalty charge notice or applying for a parking permit.

What information do we collect about you?

The information that the Council will collect varies depending on how you use the Council’s Services. We are using the information provided in this case because we have a legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)).  This means we collect your personal information from you so that we can carry out a function we are required by law to carry out.  In this case we are collecting personal information so that we can process your penalty charge notice or your application for a parking permit.

If you’re providing us with special category personal information (such as details about your health) we will be processing this under Art. 9(2) of the UK GDPR. 

How will we use the information about you?

We use the information to process your application for a parking permit or deal with your penalty charge notice.  We will share your data with the Council Tax Department where you have agreed to this so that we can process your parking permit.

We will not share the personal information we hold with any external organisations except for partner organisations.  By partner organisations we mean contractors and the Court Service where sharing your data is necessary to deal with your matter.  We may be required to share your personal information with the Police, Internal Audit or similar agency, or another Council for the purposes of preventing and detecting fraud.

We will ensure that all personal information is kept securely.

How long will we keep this information?

We will destroy this personal information 7 years from the date we close the penalty charge notice case or from the date we close the case on your parking permit.  This means we will securely destroy the information once we no longer need it. 

Individuals’ Rights

You have a right to request a copy of the personal information that we hold about you.  If you would like a copy of some or all of your information, please contact foi@stalbans.gov.uk and ask for a subject access request.

If you consider we hold inaccurate personal information about you, you can contact us to ask for this information to be corrected.  We will consider your request and respond within one month.  Please contact GDPR@stalbans.gov.uk.

You can find out more about your rights on our website:

Cookies

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information.  This information is used to make your use of the internet better.  For further information on how we use these and how you can control it, please visit: https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/cookies

Changes to our Data Protection Policy

We have a Data Protection Policy in place and this can be found here: https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/general-data-protection-regulation

Data Protection Officer

Our Data Protection Officer for the purposes of Articles 37 to 39 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation is Charles Turner, Solicitor to the Council.  He can be contacted by emailing GDPR@stalbans.gov.uk or calling 01727 819209 for our Complaints Team.

How to contact us

Please contact us if you have any questions about our Data Protection Policy, or concerns about how we handle your information: by emailing foi@stalbans.gov.uk or write to us at: FOI Team, St Albans City & District Council, St Peter’s Street, St Albans, AL1 3JE. 

Complaints

You have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner if you are unhappy with how we process your personal information.  You can do so through their website:  https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or by emailing: casework@ico.org.uk or calling their helpline on 0303 123 1113.

GDPR Privacy Notice Statutory Functions – Parking permits & PCNs using APPY WAY  7.12.22