Parking Charter

We provide enforcement of the borough’s parking arrangements endeavouring to make sure our approach is firm but fair. This is achieved by the close management of our parking enforcement contractor and the continual monitoring and review of all of our parking services.

This charter sets out our commitment to providing a high quality service for all of our customers. It explains what standards of service you can expect from us and where you can obtain more information.

For a printable version please follow this link for the Parking Charter leaflet(pdf, 131KB).

• Why do we need parking restrictions?
• Penalty charge notice (PCN) processing
• Permits and Dispensations
• Payment
• How to complain
• How you can help us
• Our contact information
• Further help

Why do we need parking restrictions?

We have a wide range of people in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, and residents businesses and visitors all have different parking needs.

Our main aims are to:

• Make sure we bring together our policies on land use and transport in a sustainable way that improves the quality of life in the borough without wasting valuable resources (for example, by making sure people do not have to make as many journeys)
• Give people who live in Richmond upon Thames a choice about the transport they use;
• Make sure transport is safe and traffic can flow freely;
• Make transport safer for everyone;
• Provide a public-transport system that everyone can use and that has services that are linked together;
• Protect local people and businesses from the negative effects of people who travel into the borough for work parking in the area; and
• Put in place a scheme to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) released in the local area so we can help stop the climate getting warmer

We will:

• Design procedures for car parking that support the local economy.
• Make sure parking does not have a negative effect on emergency services moving from one place to another or getting to buildings.
• Adapt parking procedures to protect residents’ quality of life.
• provide parking for disabled drivers when it is needed and remove restrictions when disabled parking is no longer needed.
• Make sure loading bays are in suitable areas. develop a strategy for coach parking

Penalty charge notice (PCN) processing

Penalty charge notices are parking fines. Our contractor issues penalty-charge notices to people parked illegally on and off streets, and in car parks. Our contractor is supported by closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems – some of these cover bus lanes and some are mobile.

We deal with all correspondence, phone calls and payments associated with penalty charge notices.

Our main aims are to:

• Treat everybody who uses our services in a fair, polite and professional way;
• Issue penalty charge notices in line with the law;
• Supply photos of all offences;
• Give you the opportunity to see your offence on video (if it was recorded on CCTV) within 10 working days of you asking us;
• Answer your phone calls within five rings;
• Investigate all challenges against penalty-charge notices;
• Acknowledge all your letters, e-mails and phone calls within two working days
• Aim to deal with all points you tell us about in writing in a clear and concise way, and to a standard that keeps to the law
• Answer all your correspondence as quickly as possible, and aim to do this within 21 working days of receiving them
• Offer everybody who writes to us within 14 days of the date shown on their penalty-charge notice the opportunity to pay the charge at a discounted rate if the claim against the charge is not successful and;
• Process refunds within 14 days of the investigation ending (if your claim is successful).

Permits and Dispensations

Our contractor manages Twickenham Parking Shop.

The shop deals with

• All applications for permits and questions about permits; and
• Issuing permits and parking dispensations you may need.

We will:

• Keep to the dress code for Civil Enforcement Officers (Parking Attendants) and make sure the dress code keeps to the law;
• Process your applications for permits and dispensations within seven working days;
• Consider your applications against the conditions that apply
• Try to make sure that we see you within 10 minutes when you visit The Parking Shop;
• Temporarily close parking areas within the borough for residents and businesses when we are asked to, and make sure that this does not have a negative effect on the local area; and
• Process refunds for permits within 28 working days of receiving your application.

Payment

You can make payments in the following ways:

Online

You can pay on-line through a secure website 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can find this on our website. Please follow the instructions on the Payments online page.

By phone

You can pay using our automated phone line, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week - 0870 389 1389. If you want to speak to an advisor, you can ring the Payments Helpline which is open between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday (not including bank holidays). The helpline number is 020 8831 6301.

By post

If the payment is for a penalty charge notice, you can send a cheque or postal order made payable to ‘The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames’. If the payment is for a permit, you can send a cheque or postal order to:
The Parking Shop, 96 Holly Road, Twickenham TW1 4HF

In person

You can pay by cash, postal order, cheque or most major credit and debit cards at The Parking Shop (address as above).

Paying in instalments

If you want to pay in instalments, you should ask us in writing. We will consider your request and if we agree to it we may ask you to provide some more information.

How to complain

We welcome your comments – if we make a mistake, we want to know about it so we can put things right. If you want to complain about our services, you can visit our website and send your complaint to us by using our online complaints form. Or, please write to:

Parking Enforcement,

PO Box 221
Twickenham
TW1 3TL

Email: parking@richmond.gov.uk

If you disagree with a penalty charge notice, we will not treat this as a complaint.

If you are complaining about a Civil Enforcement Officer (Parking Attendant), please write to us at the address shown above for Parking Enforcement.

How you can help us

We ask you to:

• Consider using other transport and avoid using your car whenever you can;
• Be careful when parking and make sure you are not breaking the parking rules;
• Display all parking permits and badges as clearly as possible in your car, and make sure they are valid and renewed before they run out;
• Follow all the instructions if you want to appeal against a penalty charge notice;
• Respond to us when we contact you;
• Give us as many details as possible when you ask us a question about something, and give us the right contact details;
• Give us any information and documents we ask for (this will then allow us to deal with your question more quickly); and
• Be polite to our staff. Do not abuse, harass or discriminate against them.

Our contact information

Write to:

Parking Enforcement

PO Box 221
Twickenham
Middlesex
TW1 3TL

Email: parking@richmond.gov.uk

Further help

If you need help in understanding the appeals process, then you can call the Parking Helpline on:

020 8891 7071

9:00am to 5:00pm, Monday to Friday.

Email:parking@richmond.gov.uk