Category Archives: car parking

New civil parking enforcement from November 1st


Cars parked on the double yellow lines in Lombard Street and St Helen’s Court have been getting leaflets ‘Observe the lines, avoid the fines’.

From November 1st, Oxfordshire County Council are taking on responsibility, from the police, for parking enforcement.

The County  Council have appointed a contractor to employ the existing residents traffic wardens and new wardens. They will get a full training course and will be looking for vehicles wrongly parked in the following situations:
* Residents parking
* On-street pay and display parking
* Double and single yellow lines
* Limited waiting bays
* Loading bays
* Zig-zag markings at schools (if restrictions apply)
* Pedestrian crossings
* Double parking (parking too far from the kerb)
* Blue Badge bays
* Taxi ranks
* Parking in bus lanes and stops
* Parking across dropped kerbs where there’s a crossing point, with or without tactile paving

The full details are at
https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/roads-and-transport/parking/new-parking-enforcement-areas

Last Friday a lorry was left for five hours blocking the pavement on the double yellow line next to the Vineyard Almshouses. Jenny sent me an email at the time saying it was ‘… severely restricting access on the pavement. Two properties are not able to gain full access out onto the pavement from their own front doors. Children on their way to school and people with pushchairs and shopping trolleys have to either cross the road or walk into the traffic to get round it. The police say it is a council responsibility, and the council says it is a police responsibility.’

It was the police, who often had higher priorities. From November 1st it will be a council responsibility.

People will be waking up after Halloween to a Halloween parking ticket. I say that because I have been twice caught out by parking changes on October 31st. I hope it won’t be a 3rd.

Car parking changes


Car parking charges on the streets in the town centre will be going up on 1st April from 60p to 80p for an hour and £1.00 to £1.20 for two hours. This scheme is run by Oxfordshire County Council.

That does not compare well with the Vale of White Horse car parks where the first two hours are free. (Other charges have recently been increased.)

Lots of people pay to park in West St Helen Street when the West St Helen Street car park is only ten or twenty meters away, and is free for the same period.

Most of the Charter car park is currently closed for essential work. So most drivers have to use one of the other car parks. The urgent repair work began on March 3rd and is likely to be a number of months.

Most residents in the town centre, who are part of the residents parking scheme, have out of date permits because there has been no way to buy a new permit during the Covid-19 pandemic. But this has just changed and they can be ordered remotely. Residents need to get valid permit by 1st May to use permit holder bays.

Next Generation Car Park Ticket Machine

Carpark Ticket Machine
A next generation ticket machine has appeared at the Civic Car Park in Abingdon. As well as the new £1 coin it will also be able to take contactless payments, and Chip and Pin cards. So motorists staying more than the two hours free parking have lots of options including paying for their parking via the Connect Cashlesss mobile phone app.

The new machine even opened the coin slot when I made a movement nearby. I have not heard it speak yet but would not be surprised if it has that capability.

On-Street Parking changes

Town Centre Parking
In Abingdon Town Centre some new bays have been painted for the residents parking scheme.

It currently costs residents £100 a year for a permit to park in the town centre spaces, but that will soon be going up to £120.
Town Centre Parking
New play and display machines will be coming in March 2017 to replace the current ‘obsolete’ machines. The new machines will allow payment by telephone, credit cards, and coins, but won’t support the current card based system whereby residents can get a day’s parking for visitors for 40p. New scratchcards will be used instead, allowing 25 days visitor parking, and an additional 25 days at a cost of £20.

Other people using the on street parking will be charged 50p for an hour, up from 40p, and 80p for 2 hours, up from 60p.