Parking restrictions and enforcement to resume on 1 June 2020

Parking enforcement resumes on 1 June 2020
Residents, businesses and visitors must have a valid permit to park
New paperless key worker permits will be issued free to those who qualify
Temporary paper key worker permits will no longer be valid.

What does this mean?

If you use a vehicle in the borough, you will need a permit to park during controlled parking times or you may receive a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).

Local Authority advice for Covid-19 lockdown easing

Guidance has been produced jointly by the British Parking Association, London Councils and the Local Government Association to help local authorities develop and implement local plans for lifting temporary traffic and parking arrangements put in place since the start of the Covid-19 lockdown period.

Transport is one of the most important factors in ensuring we continue to control the virus and save lives, whilst enabling a phased lifting of the lockdown restrictions.

As people try to avoid public transport, demand for parking will increase and the reintroduction of parking enforcement is necessary to ensure priority can be maintained for additional walking and cycling as well as freight for essential deliveries and services.

Covid-19 Parking Concessions

At the onset of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, we introduced temporary measures to assist residents, visitors, businesses and key workers to be able to park, but most importantly to enable key workers to provide essential services at this challenging time.

Key Worker Permits

The council issued almost 6,000 virtual permits to key workers to assist with essential duties at the height of the outbreak. However, we have now reached a point where on-street parking spaces have become saturated and we are seeing more cars parked on yellow lines, obstructing essential and emergency service vehicles as well as residents with paid-for parking permits complaining they cannot find a parking space.

The current level of free permits is not sustainable as there is a small number of parking spaces. Therefore, to manage the demand for spaces, whilst maintaining our support for key workers, we can now only grant new key worker permits to front line NHS staff only.

Those who have already been issued with a key worker permit can continue to use it until further notice. However, we are unable to amend or change registration number on those permits, apart for front line NHS staff.

Key workers permits allow parking in car parks and on-street parking bays signed:

Business Permit Holders Only
Business Permit Holders or Pay by phone
Pay and Display
Permit Holders Only
Permit Holders or Pay by phone
Resident Permit Holders Only

Apply for a key worker virtual (paperless) permit

If you are front line NHS worker and require a permit, please contact your local parking coordinator and provide your full name, home address and vehicle registration number.

• For Barts Health Trust email: Parkingpermitsbh.bartshealth@nhs.net

• For ELFT email: elft.elftparkingpermits@nhs.net

• For GPs email: jerome.john2@nhs.net

They will arrange for a list of vehicles to send us, for us to add to our whitelist. Please do not contact us directly as due to the volume of requests we are receiving we are unable to respond to individual emails.

Visitor vouchers at a car free property

Some residents may be unable to use public transport for their own personal health and safety, and if they are unable to walk or cycle to work they may be temporarily using a car.

Therefore, we have added a new permit type to your account called ‘Visitor Voucher - Car Free (paying) in addition to your current account of 30 paying vouchers in a year.

You can purchase up to 40 vouchers but they must be used within 30 days from the date of purchase or you will lose them.

For example, if you purchase 10 vouchers on 2 June 2020 they will expire on 1 July 2020.

This increase is only for a limited period and subject to further lockdown easing.

Furthermore, it is important to note that this decision is discretionary and not a variation to the visitor vouchers terms and conditions.

Apply for or purchase visitor vouchers

Parking enforcement to resume on 1 June 2020

Managing the supply and demand of parking facilities is a key operational responsibility for local authorities and is a vital traffic management tool. It is likely that a phased return to work for certain sectors will lead to an increase in demand for parking places as many people seek alternatives to shared public service transport, for their own personal health and safety.

Wapping bus gate restrictions to resume on 1 June 2020

We are resuming enforcement on Monday 1 June 2020 and from Tuesday 26 May 2020 there will be prominently placed Variable Message Signs (VMS) to let motorists know of the change.

MOT due dates extended

From 30 March, MOT due dates for cars, motorcycles and light vans will be extended by 6 months. This is being done to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Please note, there are different temporary rules for MOT tests for lorries, buses and trailers.