Armagh motorists will continue to benefit from the five hours for a pound parking charge after local councils took over responsibility for car parks.
The new Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council has “no plans” to change the current system – for now anyway.
Across the Province, the 11 new councils took over the authority for a collective 330 car parks from Wednesday, April 1.
As the new ‘owners’ of the car parks, the councils are now responsible for setting tariffs, lighting and their upkeep.
Motorists are advised to take note of local car park signage and council websites for information on tariffs.
A TransportNI spokesman said: “Drivers are still expected to park properly and, where applicable, pay the appropriate tariff in the charged car parks.
“NSL traffic attendants will continue to patrol the car parks as normal and issue penalty charge notices to illegally parked vehicles.”
A spokesperson for the new ACBCBC Council said it had “agreed to continue with the £1 for five hours charge in respect of those car parks where charges were previously in place”.
“There are no plans at this stage to change the status of the existing free car parks,” she added.
You can avoid a penalty charge notice by following a few simple rules:
- make sure you park properly within a marked out bay
- pay the appropriate tariff in charged car parks
- display a valid Blue Badge if using disable bays
- only park in electric vehicle bays if you are charging an electric vehicle.
People can continue to use the telephone cashless parking system, Parkmobile, where you can register and phone 028 9575 7988 to avoid your parking time expiring.
More people are signing up to the Parkmobile service which costs an extra 15p each time you park. Details are on the side of parking machines.
Apart from a few councils reverting back to the normal tariff, drivers should not notice any changes and the same rules governing the use of car parks remain.
The transfer excludes park and ride sites, which will continue to be looked after by the Department for Regional Development.
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