Skip to main content

Westminster City Council to crack down on illegal parking in disabled bays

Westminster City Council, in partnership with Smart Parking, is set to unveil new technology which could eliminate the issue of inconsiderate drivers parking in disabled bays. New technology emerging out of Westminster’s successful bay sensors pilot in central London now means that disabled drivers can be issued with electronic permits, known as EPermits or RFID tags, which communicate with sensors in the road. Should a car without a tag park in a disabled bay with a sensor illegally, nearby traffic marshal
December 2, 2015 Read time: 2 mins

Westminster City Council, in partnership with 8034 Smart Parking, is set to unveil new technology which could eliminate the issue of inconsiderate drivers parking in disabled bays.

New technology emerging out of Westminster’s successful bay sensors pilot in central London now means that disabled drivers can be issued with electronic permits, known as EPermits or RFID tags, which communicate with sensors in the road.

Should a car without a tag park in a disabled bay with a sensor illegally, nearby traffic marshals will be alerted so that they could go to the site and ask the driver to move on. They also have the power to issue a fine as a last resort.

Councillor Heather Acton, Westminster City Council cabinet member for parking, said: “Parking in a disabled bay must be one of the most inconsiderate things a driver can do – yet we still see it very regularly in Westminster. We hope this new technology will put an end to this poor practice and help improve the day to day lives of disabled drivers in the city.”
 
Paul Gillespie, Smart Parking’s Group Chief Executive Officer added: “We are delighted to be collaborating with Westminster City Council and 1466 Transport for London in the launch of the EPermit pilot – a world first. This new technology will help to eliminate misuse of disabled parking bays broadening Westminster City Council’s commitment to providing fairer, easier, parking”.
 
The pilot project is set to last around eight weeks, and evaluation will be carried out before a decision is made on a citywide roll out.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Cubic awarded London ticketing contract
    July 30, 2014
    Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed the award of its Electra ticketing and fare collection contract, starting in August 2015, to Cubic Corporation’s UK subsidiary Cubic Transportation Systems following a competitive tender. The seven-year contract is valued at over US$700 million and includes an option to extend the contract for a further three years, giving the contract an expected value of over US$1 billion. The announcement means the continuation of the partnership between TfL and Cubic which ha
  • TISPOL says gig economy tears up enforcement rulebook
    March 4, 2019
    The road safety enforcement sector is facing a crisis. Rulebooks around the world are going to have to change as our roads become a high-pressure workplace for millions of gig economy workers. Geoff Hadwick reports from the TISPOL conference Traffic police forces everywhere will need a fresh approach to regulating the way in which our highways are being used, senior enforcement officers were told at the latest TISPOL European Traffic Police Network annual conference. The World Health Organisation puts it
  • Need for standardisation of toll classes
    March 2, 2012
    In a previous article Bob Lees of Idris Technology Ltd looked at the appropriateness of toll classes in relation to all-electronic toll fee collection. Here, he looks at how addressing classification standardisation could avoid downstream aggravation and cost
  • AVERE slams EU Council CO2 position
    October 12, 2018
    Electromobility trade association AVERE has slammed a key European Union Council position on future CO2 emissions in cars. AVERE says the stance agreed this week by EU environment ministers “falls short in providing the e-mobility sector with right signals to support the e-mobility transition”. The Council has suggested that cars should put out 35% less CO2 by 2030 compared to 2020 – but just last week MEPs called for a 40% cut. This means that EU states have chosen “to support and prop up old business m