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Brief History

Parking discs were first introduced in Paris in 1957 in an attempt to move away long-term parkers without erecting parking meters, which were considered too expensive. It proved to be a success and soon spread across Europe in the 1960s.

In 1965, Cheltenham was the first town in the UK to introduce disc parking as an alternative to parking meters, and by 1969 Harrogate, Devizes and Ripon had followed suit.

There's even a British Standard for parking discs (BS6571-7:1997, which replaced BS4631:1970).

Pendle Council first started using parking discs in August 1998 as a means of allowing free short-stay parking on many of Nelson's town centre car parks. Disc parking was extended to Brierfield's Tunstill Square car park in June 2004 (it now has 13 short-stay and 13 long-stay spaces) and Colne's Dockray Street car park in July 2009.

Where can I get a disc from?

Parking discs are available from all Council offices and many nearby shops. We're also trialling the use of a disc dispenser on the Dockray Street car park, and if this proves successful further ones will be provided in Nelson too. The discs are free of charge and should be kept for reuse.

Can I just write my time of arrival on a piece of paper?

No.

Can I use a parking disc from another local authority?

Yes you can.

How do I use a parking disc?

A parking disc has a rotating clock face visible through a window in the front of the disc. Below the window is an arrow pointing towards the clock. The clock is marked with hours 1 to 12, with quarter marks representing 15 minute intervals.

To set the disc when using a short-stay car park (we don't use them on the highway in Pendle), you should rotate the clock face so that the time of your arrival lines up with the arrow. The disc needs to be set to the nearest quarter mark on the clock face. So if you arrive in the car park at 10.10am, you should align the clock face to the first quarter mark to the right of the number 10 (which would indicate 10.15).

The disc should then be placed on your dashboard so that the time can clearly be seen from the outside by a civil enforcement officer.

It's important to set the time as accurately as possible and to ensure that this time can be seen through the windscreen. If you set a time greater than 15 minutes from your actual arrival time or the time on the disc is obscured, you may be served with a penalty charge notice.

Once I've set the disc, how long can I stay?

All of the short-stay car parks in Pendle have a time limit of two and a half hours. You must not return to your car and change the time on your disc to allow more time or move your car to another bay in the same car park. If you need to park longer than two and a half hours or you're attending a meeting and don't know if two and a half hours will be long enough, we'd recommend using a long-stay car park instead.

Why not use our car park directory to see where our car parks are located and how long you can park on them?

• More information on parking in Pendle