This is essential information if you, or a visitor to Marcia Road, have a car. It is about parking and loading/unloading your car.

This page tells you about:
1) General rules re parking in Marcia Rd and Southwark
2) Complications
3) More complications!
4) If you get a parking fine
5) Parking permits

Marcia Rd is in a controlled parking zone (a CPZ in council jargon), which means that there are rules about where and when you can park without paying.

‘Parking attendants’ employed by the council patrol the streets between 8:30 and 18:30 Monday to Friday and, if you break the rules you are likely to be fined. They are very strict. You may not see them coming as they go about on mopeds.

Police can also initiate a fine but usually leave it to the parking attendants.

If they put a parking ticket (officially called a ‘Penalty Charge Notice’ or PCN) on your car and you ignore it, their next step is to clamp a wheel of your car so you cannot move it. If you still do nothing they will lift the car onto a lorry and take it to the car pound. To get it back costs you lots more than the fine would have been. The car pound is in Rainham in Essex – a real pain to get to!

Southwark Council’s parking web page gives you the full story. But if you get a ticket, it is possible to appeal and sometimes have the fine discarded. See below.

However, the following will help you understand where and when you can park

I disclaim any responsibility for the accuracy of this information – the rules may change. It is YOUR responsibility to check that it is still correct.

Parking rules are displayed on plates (called ‘sign plates’) attached to poles or lampposts in the street. In other words, if you get a parking penalty, you cannot blame it on me! See too the site terms and conditions.

Ask yourself these questions

Question 1: Are you parking between the hours of 8:30 and 18:30 Monday to Friday inclusive? (Monday thru Friday in American English)

• If the answer is “Yes” go to Question 2.
• If “No, it is outside of those days and times” then you can park without paying in the pay and display parking bays and on the SINGLE yellow lines. (Not the double yellow lines.)

Question 2: Have you bought, and put on your windscreen, a Residents’ Parking Permit? (Below)

• If “Yes” then you can park without paying in the pay and display parking bays BUT NOT on any yellow lines.
• If “No” then you can park in the parking bays if you pay for a session by phone (paper tickets are no longer issued) BUT NOT on any yellow lines.

Complications

The red lines at one end of Marcia Rd, in Penry Street, and on Old Kent Road have special restrictions as part of a ‘Red Route’ to help keep buses moving. Check the signs on the posts, but avoid parking on them between 7:00 and 19:00.

Tesco allows customers to park for up to two hours. They do monitor the car park and if you break their rules your car may be clamped, or they mat attempt to fine you!

More complications

You can stop on the single yellow lines at any time if you are taking things to or from your house and vehicle. This is called LOADING. However, the parking attendants will fine you if they cannot see you coming and going and therefore believe that you are parked.

Beware: In Southwark, single yellow lines do not have sign plates unless they operate at different times to the rest of the controlled parking zone.

However, do not assume that the same applies in other places in London or England. You cannot always load on all single lines at any time. Some (but not those in Marcia Rd) have extra restrictions. Check the roadside sign plates and markings. It’s a system that confuses everyone. Parking in the UK is not a simple subject!

Residents’ and Visitors’ Parking Permits

People who have a car and live in Marcia Road can buy a Residents’ Parking Permit. Check the Southwark Council site for information on current costs and applying. With a resident’s permit for Marcia Road, you can also park in any part of Southwark that has ‘GR’ on the plates that display the parking regulations. This includes parts of Bermondsey nearly up to Tower Bridge.

To buy a permit, you need do it online.

Residents can also buy books of reduced-rate visitors parking permits. These are are useful to give to visitors or tradesmen working on your house.