The Traffic Management (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 enables Roads Service to take over the enforcement of most parking restrictions from the police, including yellow lines, urban clearways, bus lanes, limited waiting parking places and pay and display bays.
Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) are processed by Roads Service through the civil justice system, rather than the criminal justice system. This system of parking enforcement is known as Decriminalised Parking Enforcement (DPE)and enforcement is operated by Roads Service’s contractor, NSL Services Group (NSL).
NSL has teams of traffic attendants who patrol the streets and car parks to ensure vehicles have not been parked in contravention of the traffic and parking regulations. Any vehicles found in contravention of the regulations will be issued with a PCN.
Roads Service retains the administration of the enforcement operation i.e. the processing of all PCNs, dealing with payments and answering appeals. For more information on offences, please see the link below:
The only objective of the new scheme is to reduce the number of illegally parked vehicles on our roads. This in turn will reduce traffic congestion, improve road safety and improve accessibility for all road-users, including Blue Badges holders. Traffic attendants concentrate solely on parking enforcement to help achieve the main objective - to reduce the number of illegally parked vehicles. Roads Service doesn't want to give out tickets but if it has to, it will.
If you get a parking ticket - officially called a Penalty Charge Notice or PCN - you will be required to pay £60. However if you pay within 14 days of getting the ticket a 50% discount will apply and you will only have to pay £30. The discount reflects reduced administration costs for Roads Service. Information on how to pay is provided on the back of the PCN.
You can pay by credit or debit card over the telephone, as well as posted payments by cheque or postal-order. You can also pay over the internet using the following link:
There are no new offences or new no-parking zones, but Roads Service is putting a lot more effort into keeping the streets clear of vehicles parked in contravention of restrictions.
This will bring about many positive changes including:
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