Parking permit amnesty starts on 1 August

Residents in possession of parking permits for zones where they no longer live are invited to hand them in.

The council is running a permit ‘amnesty’ throughout August where people with permits who are not entitled to them can hand them in for cancellation with no questions asked. Residents can either post the permit back to the council or hand it in to parking services staff in the customer service centre at Hove Town Hall where there is also a special permit drop box.

Parking permits state that if a resident moves out of the parking zone for which they have a permit, they must surrender it.

It is fraud to use any kind of parking permit that you are not entitled to. A sample audit in the city showed that around 2% of permits in circulation are possibly fraudulent, which is a potential cost to the council of around £190,000.

Councillor Gill Mitchell, chair of the city’s environment, transport and sustainability committee, said: “Brighton & Hove has had considerable success in dealing with Blue Badge fraud and we are keen to see that other types of parking permits are not being misused. We have 27,000 resident permits on issue so making sure that they are going to the right people will ensure residents can park more easily near to their homes and will free up waiting lists.”

Anyone found using permits fraudulently following the amnesty could face prosecution. The council is continuing to cross-check records and from September will introduce automatic online checks as well as new forms warning people that the council will take action against people using parking permits fraudulently.