Yellow lines

Yellow lines are provided where there is a need to restrict parking, in order to:

help alleviate traffic congestion
prevent obstructions on roads
make roads safer for vehicles and pedestrians, and
provide kerb side loading facilities.

All the streets in a controlled parking zone have yellow lines, except:

where there are bays marked out with white lines, and
roads that are subject to red routes

Some bays also have yellow lines running through them, mainly where the restricted times of the bay are different from the zone restrictions. In these cases you should be particularly careful to check the times during which the bay can be used.

There are two types of yellow lines:

Double yellow lines to mark lengths of road where there is no waiting at any time, even when the controlled parking zone hours are not operational.
Single Yellow Lines to mark lengths of the road where there is no parking during the restricted hours.

There are no supplementary signs to indicate the restricted hours, unless these vary from the hours relating to the zone. Vehicles must not wait on single yellow lines during these hours.

The only instances where vehicles may park on a yellow line are where there are no loading restrictions and:

where loading or unloading is taking place in accordance with local regulations,
when picking up or setting down passengers and their luggage, or
where the driver has a disabled blue badge, and complies with the national regulations e.g. maximum stay of 3 hours with both the badge and clock used appropriately)

Loading restrictions

Loading restrictions, shown by yellow kerb markings, have stricter restrictions than yellow lines:

Vehicles are not permitted to load or unload.
Vehicles displaying Blue Badges are not permitted to park.
Vehicles can stop, however, when picking up or setting down passengers and their luggage.The times of loading restrictions are indicated on white supplementary plates.

The times of loading restrictions are indicated on white supplementary plates.

Places you cannot stop at any time

Some restrictions do not permit stopping for any reason, including to pick up or set down passengers. Of these, some are in place at all times and some do not require signage.

School Keep Clears are in place during the times stated on the associated time plate. School Keep Clears are in place to keep the road clear so that drivers can see children and children can see cars. The council will therefore enforce all observed contraventions of this restriction, even if a vehicle is stopped to pick up or drop off a child attending the school.

The following restrictions are signed and in place at all times:

Bus stops and bus stands.
Pedestrian Crossings.

All the council’s road markings and signs are in accordance with the regulations set by the Department for Transport. You can see more detail on road markings and signage at the Directgov website. Some restrictions, however, do not require signage and are in place at all times. These are as follows:

Stopping on pavements (Footway Parking). issuedFootway parking is a contravention across the whole of London and there is no need for signs. Some pavements have marked bays on them and parking is permitted in those bays.
Stopping on vehicle cross-overs (e.g. at driveways/access to property) and dropped kerbs: parking over a cross-over/dropped kerb is also an contravention, and also does not require signage.
Double-parking. As above, parking a vehicle away from the kerb and even partially outside a marked bay is a contravention and does not require signage.

Parking on estates owned by the council

On council owned estates the enforcement hours are generally 8.30am to 10.30pm, seven days a week, although some estates operate a 24-hour restriction.

For further details please contact the relevant neighbourhood housing office or estate parking on 020 7364 5015.

Penalties for contraventions

Any vehicles seen in contravention of any parking restriction is liable to be issued with a Penalty Charge Notice (also known as a "parking ticket" or "parking fine").

The Highway Code

If there are no parking restrictions in place then you must still be aware of the Highway Code, particularly the rules on waiting and parking. Failing to do so may result in a criminal offence being committed such as obstruction of the highway.