Car parks in council control

From April 1, Councils, as the new owners of the car parks, are now responsible for setting tariffs, lighting and the upkeep of the car parks.

A Transport NI spokesman said: “Drivers are still expected to park properly and where applicable, pay the appropriate tariff in the charged car parks. NSL traffic attendants will continue to patrol the car parks as normal and issue Penalty Charge Notices to illegally parked vehicles.”

You can avoid a PCN by: making sure you park properly within a marked out bay, paying the appropriate tariff in charged car parks, display a valid Blue Badge if using disable bays and by only parking in electric vehicle bays if you are charging an electric vehicle.

People can continue to use the telephone cashless parking system, Parkmobile where you can register and phone 028 9575 7988 to avoid your parking time expiring. More people are signing up to the Parkmobile service which costs an extra 15p each time you park. Details are on the side of parking machines.

Apart from a few Councils reverting back to the normal tariff, drivers should not notice any changes and the same rules governing the use of car parks remain.

The transfer excludes Park and Ride sites which will continue to be looked after by DRD.