Car Parking in London: Your Essential Guide

The UK capital is one of the most cherished destinations for many travelers. You've probably even wanted to pick up 9 seater hire in London and enjoy an incredible weekend with the whole family. It sounds very tempting, but very often drivers are stopped by the problem of car parking in big cities.

Parking in London can be rather difficult and provoke long journeys around the city in search of free spaces, thus, everything will be easier if you are familiar with all the nuances. Below you will find complete information on parking in London. Use it on your future car trip to make it hassle-free!

What are the major car parking providers in London?

When traveling to the British capital by car hire, you should consider the additional costs for using parking spaces, the rules for stopping in the center and outside of it, as well as paying an additional toll on the main streets.

There are several operators providing parking services in London. The leading ones are:

• NCP is the largest national company with more than 100 car parks in the city. In order to find its stations, offices and for other practical information, you need to follow the official website.
• Q-Park is an excellent provider with 14 parking lots in the UK capital. Each parking lot is equipped with toilets, safe entrances, and also provides free use of baby carriages and umbrellas.

Each of these companies has both paid and free parking spaces in London. It’s extremely difficult to find free 24-hour parking. However, all the places for stopping are free of charge, but only from 6.30 pm till 9.30 am.

What are the parking rules in London?

Similarly to many European cities, the British capital is struggling to keep the environment clean and reduce the number of cars on the road. In this regard, certain parking rules are being developed that limit the number of places where you can leave the car hire, as well as the duration of parking. There are large fines for non-compliance with the rules, so here’re the main points you need to know for proper parking in London:

1. Pay attention to the signs – it’s forbidden to stop on many streets of the UK capital during the daytime (from 9.30 am till 6.30 pm). Also, some parking lots have signs allowing only Londoners to stop.
2. There’s a standard “P” sign near every legal parking lot in London, near which you can find a terminal indicating the cost of parking and the allowed duration of leaving the car in this place (usually up to 2 hours).
3. Pay attention to road markings:

• single yellow stripe stretching along the sidewalk indicates a time limit for the permitted stop.
• double yellow stripe prohibits parking in the specified place at any time of the day.
• double red stripe indicates the priority of public transport, which prohibits stopping at the indicated space even for a short time.

You can pay for parking using a special terminal that accepts credit cards or using a mobile phone by sending an SMS message. However, in the latter case, you will need to register on a specific site and link a bank card to your account.

When using the terminals, you must follow the prompts on the screen: select the duration of parking and positions that suit you from other categories. After receiving the payment coupon, it must be placed on the inside of your car windshield.

It’s extremely costly to violate the parking rules, since for such non-compliance with the laws, large fines of £40-100 are provided.

How much is parking in London?

The amount of payment for car hire parking in the capital is determined by the location of the desired stopover location - in the center, on the outskirts, near popular attractions, etc. Even on nearby avenues, the cost of parking can differ significantly due to the popularity of one of them and the lack of demand of the other. Specific rates are set by the municipal authorities annually. So, we will indicate the approximate rates:

• Parking in the city center and on large streets with a large flow of visitors - £4;
• In less popular places, parking will cost about £2.
• At night, on weekends and holidays, there’s no parking fee.

In addition, in London there’s a congestion fee for visiting the city center by car, so you will have to pay about £10 when entering the main streets.

More affordable rates are set for drivers with disabilities. However, special fares apply only to stops at specially marked places - they are determined by a sign depicting a person in a wheelchair on a blue background.