Parking enforcement change of contractor from 1 October 2024

Kingston Council has appointed APCOA as the borough’s new parking management contractor.

APCOA will take up the contract on 1 October, replacing the outgoing contractor NSL (Marston Holdings). APCOA will be responsible for checking that vehicles have a valid parking session, permit or exemption everywhere Kingston Council parking charges or restrictions apply. 

There will be no disruption to parking services for customers.

Parking and enforcement in the borough

Kingston Council runs:

  • 3 multi storey car parks
  • 10 surface car parks
  • 14 paid parking zones
  • 7 permit parking areas
  • 10 controlled parking zones
  • 7 school streets

The council is also responsible for moving traffic enforcement on roads in the borough, except for private roads and those operated by TfL.

Responsibilities of the new contractor

APCOA will be responsible for:

  • issuing parking permits and visitor permits
  • registering exemptions for school streets
  • monitoring enforcement in areas where parking or access are charged or restricted
  • issuing Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) on behalf of the council when rules are broken

Paying for car parking in the borough

There will be no change to how you register or pay for car parking. Current policies still apply regarding blue badge parking, free electric vehicle permits and free 30 minute parking in selected locations.

Find out more about paying for parking in Kingston

When you next apply for or renew your permits

Permits are eligible for renewal one month before they expire and any additional days are carried forward.  You do not lose time from your permit by renewing it as soon as your renewal period opens. 

Most standard permit sales are processed within a day. More complex applications can take longer to process and may be paused awaiting further information from the customer. There is planned system downtime was completed on 30 September and any incomplete application at this time will need to be restarted on the APCOA / RBK Parking Permit Portal.

From 1 October you can apply, renew, amend or cancel a permit:

We also wrote an email to customers ahead of the change of contractor with more details.

Existing account holders will need to reset their password by following the ‘forgot password’ link the first time they log on to the system after 1 October. All of your information will be retained. You may need to check junk/spam folders when you reset your password.

If you use a bookmark or browser history to access parking permits you'll need to update this on your system. 

A small number of users have more than 1 account associated with an email address. You will still be able to use the password reset for all of your accounts. We strongly recommend that you associate each account to a unique email address. The customer service team can help you with this.

Visitor parking

Visitor parking scratchcards will remain valid until the expiry date printed on them. Any prepaid time in the online system will also remain valid.

As with permit accounts, you will need to reset your password the first time you log onto the system after 1 October and if you use a bookmark or browser history to access visitor permits you'll need to update this on your device. 

Penalty Charge Notices (PCN)

Everyone who receives a PCN has the right to register an appeal. Your PCN will tell you how to do this.

Benefits of the new contract for residents

Our contracting process seeks to provide the best value for residents.

The cost of providing parking services is covered by charges to customers who use the spaces, rather than taken from council tax. This includes enforcement, maintenance and administration of parking, both on the street and in car parks. Any surplus is reinvested in transport services such as the taxi card scheme and concessionary fares.

The effective administration and enforcement of parking services benefits residents by keeping highways safer and traffic flowing. It also enables fair access for residents, visitors, business users and others to parking close to homes, shops and services.

Last Modified: 25/10/2024 12:26:49