Westminster to use parking sensors to deter misuse of disabled bays

Disabled drivers will identify presence with RFID tags and electronic permits

Westminster City Council is to trial using its street bay sensor technology to discourage the illegal use of disabled parking bays.

Disabled drivers can now be issued with electronic permits, known as EPermits, or RFID tags which communicate with the sensors set into the road.

Should a car without an EPermit or RFID tag park in a disabled bay monitored by sensors, Westminster’s traffic marshals will be alerted so that they could go to the location and ask the driver to move on. The marshals, provided by NSL, also have the power to issue a penalty charge notice (PCN) as a last resort.

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.”

Money for the trial has come from the city council’s parking fund, paid for by drivers who pay for parking in the city, and also from Transport for London’s incubator fund which champions groundbreaking transport ideas. The pilot disabled parking bay project will last around eight weeks, after which an evaluation will be carried out before a decision will be made on a citywide roll out.

Westminster has deployed 3,330 bays across central London. Drivers can use a phone app called ParkRight to see when parking spaces are available in real time.

The council is working in partnership with bay sensor technology provider Smart Parking. 

The sensors are laid flush into the streets and transmit real-time data to the council that enables parking space occupancy information to be updated on a second-by-second basis.

Paul Gillespie, Smart Parking’s Group chief executive officer, added: "This new technology will help to eliminate misuse of disabled parking bays, broadening Westminster City Council’s commitment to providing fairer, easier, parking.”