The Road Traffic Regulation (Northern Ireland) Order 1997

Charges for parking in designated parking places

16.—(1) Subject to paragraph (4), the amount of the charge for a vehicle left in a parking place designated by order under Article 15 shall be such amount as the Department may by order under that Article determine, and any such amount may be fixed—

(a) as an amount (an “initial charge”) payable in respect of an initial period and an amount (an “excess charge”) payable, in addition to an initial charge, in respect of any excess over an initial period; or

(b) as an amount payable regardless of the period for which a vehicle is left; or

(c) in such other manner as may be specified in the order.

(2) Provision may be made by order under Article 15 for—

(a) regulating the time at which and the method by which any charge is to be paid and requiring the use of an apparatus or device (a “parking meter”) being an apparatus or device designed—

(i) to indicate whether any charge has been paid and whether the period for which it has been paid or any further period has elapsed, or

(ii) to indicate the time and to issue tickets indicating the payment of a charge and the period in respect of which it has been paid, or

(iii) in any other way to control or regulate the parking of vehicles or to measure or record the duration of such parking or to receive or acknowledge the receipt of a charge for such parking according to an amount or scale fixed by such an order and as measured or recorded by the apparatus or device;

(b) prohibiting the parking of vehicles on any road or part of a road either generally or specially or subject to such conditions as may be specified in the order including conditions prohibiting parking except by persons who use such parking meters and pay such charges as are referred to in sub-paragraph (a);

(c) requiring a vehicle to display a ticket issued by a parking meter when left in a parking place and treating the indications given by a parking meter or any ticket issued by it, or the display or failure to display such a ticket on any vehicle at a parking place, as evidence of such facts and for such purposes as may be provided by the order;

(d) prohibiting the insertion in a parking meter of coins or bank notes additional to those inserted by way of payment of any charge or prohibiting the insertion or re-insertion in a parking meter of a credit or debit card additional to the e original insertion of such a card;

(e) exempting from the payment of any charge any vehicle left in a parking place in such circumstances as may be specified in the order and treating any vehicle so exempted as having been left there, and the charge from which it is exempted as having been paid, at such time as may be so specified.

(3) Provision may be made by order under Article 15 for—

(a) regulating the issue, revocation and surrender of any permit such as is mentioned in Article 15(5) and the issue, use and surrender of tokens indicating the holding of such a permit, or the payment of any charge in connection with the issue or use of the permit;

(b) requiring a vehicle to which such a permit applies to display the permit or such a token when left in a parking place to which the permit applies, and treating the display of or failure to display the permit or such a token on any vehicle left at a parking place as evidence of such facts and for such purposes as may be provided by the order;

(c) refunding, in such circumstances and in such manner as may be provided by the order of all or part of any charge paid in advance by virtue of Article 15(6).

(4) In this Article “credit card” and “debit card” have the same meanings as in Article 14.