Car Parking Regulations (Section 6)

General

6.1 Parking is only permitted in designated parking spaces to holders of appropriate and valid University parking permits. Parking on any other area of University land is strictly prohibited.

6.2 Three types of permit are available to University staff based in central Oxford departments: peak-time permits, off-peak permits and visitor permits. All applications for permits will be assessed by departments.

6.3 Site-specific permits are available to University staff based on the following sites: Begbroke, Ewert House, Old Road Campus, Osney Mead, and the Said Business School.

6.4 Peak-time and site-specific permits may be issued to individuals, car pools or groups of individuals whose pattern of car use is such that they are able to share a single permit.

6.5 Peak-time, site-specific, and off-peak permits are issued by Security Services, in response to instructions from departments. Visitor permits for use in departmental spaces are issued by departments.

6.6 Peak-time, site-specific, and off-peak permits are 'permits-to-hunt': the holder is not guaranteed a parking space.

6.7 Ordinarily students are not eligible for University parking permits. A student may apply for exemption from this eligibility rule in the following circumstances:

(a) the student is living further than 6 miles from Carfax and is encountering exceptional problems travelling into Oxford; and/or
(b) the student has a mobility impairment.

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Peak time permits

6.8 Peak-time permits are valid at any time in University-controlled car parks, except those for which site-specific permits are issued (see 6.3 above)

6.9 The total number of peak-time permits issued will be limited and will be proportional to the number of non-departmental spaces available. Peak-time permits will be divided between departments: the number allocated will relate to the number of staff on their payroll. The number of permits allocated to departments will be reviewed annually.

6.10 Peak-time permits will be issued on the basis of greatest need, as assessed on a departmental level against the criteria set out below. Applications should be made on a standard form and submitted according to arrangements devised within each department.

6.11 Heads of department are responsible for assessing applications, using their own judgement in applying the criteria as appropriate to their department, and for authorising the issue of peak-time permits to their staff up to their maximum allocation.

6.12 Heads of department are required to publish details of any variation they make in the application of the criteria for assessment in the appendix and to indicate, anonymously, the circumstances which justify the issue of each permit (for example, by posting a list in the department).

6.13 Permits will expire on 30 September and renewal must be on the basis of repeat application. Heads of department may, if they wish, specify an earlier expiry date.

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Site-Specific Permits

6.14 Site-specific permits are valid at any time in the car parks of the specified site.

6.15 Where the number of site-specific permits is capped, these will be issued on the basis of greatest need, as assessed on a departmental level against the criteria set out below. Applications should be made on a standard form and submitted according to arrangements devised within each department.

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Assessment of applications for peak-time and site-specific permits

6.16 Blue Badge holders.Staff who hold a Blue Badge should have automatic entitlement to a designated parking space as close as possible to the accessible entrance of their contractual place of work. (Procedural details and advice to departments are available in the Guidelines for Disabled Parking.)

6.17 All other applications from staff (or graduate students who are also applying for exemption from ineligibility) should be assessed against the following criteria:

(a) Other Disability. A need to park close to the place of work due to a medical or physical condition which does not qualify the applicant for a blue badge. (Staff with temporary mobility problems should be granted a peak-time permit, or use of a departmental space as appropriate, for the duration of their disability.)

(b) Operational requirements. A requirement to use a car on a regular and frequent basis during the working day in order to fulfil contractual duties.

(c) Family commitments. A need to attend to dependent family members during the day (e.g. taking/collecting children to/from nursery or school, visiting elderly or hospitalised family members) in areas not immediately accessible by public transport.

(d) Unsocial hours of work. A requirement to work unsocial hours on a regular and frequent basis, finishing and/or starting at a time when public transport provision is less adequate than during the standard working day.

(e) Inadequate public transport. Applicable to staff who reside beyond a distance where they could reasonably be expected to walk or cycle to work, in areas beyond reasonable reach of public transport (a total journey time not in excess of 45 minutes each way including walking time.) Staff applying on this basis should note why they need to drive into Oxford rather than use the Park and Ride.

6.18 Regard should be given to the availability to the applicant (or perhaps their spouse) of alternative parking facilities in Oxford: those with ready access to a non-university parking space in Oxford are unlikely to need a peak-time permit.

6.19 The relative status of the applicants within the department should not be a factor in the assessment process.

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Off-peak permits

6.20 Off-peak permits are valid before 7 a.m. and after 4 p.m. every weekday and all day at weekends in any University-controlled car park except Ewert House. The number of off-peak permits available is not limited. A standard application form must be completed.

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Reserve pool

6.21 A reserve pool of peak-time permits is held centrally for the purpose of alleviating the difficulties faced by central Oxford departments where large numbers of staff members meet the normal criteria for allocation of permits. The maximum number of permits to be allocated will be specified by BESC and will be reviewed annually.

6.22 Departments may apply for additional permits from the reserve pool on a year-on-year basis, specifying the criteria on which each additional permit is requested. To the criteria set out in Regulation 6.14, departments may add reasons of staff retention.

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Departmental Spaces and Visitor Permits

6.23 Departmental spaces, where allocated, are intended to allow the department to operate effectively. The number of spaces allocated to department will be reviewed annually.

6.24 Departmental spaces are for use by contractors (including staff of Estates Services) working within the department), delivery vehicles, visiting academic staff, service workers, and, on an occasional basis when necessary, members of staff who do not hold peak-time permits. Only in exceptional circumstances should staff with peak-time permits be given use of a departmental space. On such occasions the permit-holder must ensure that a visitor permit is displayed in their vehicle.

6.25 Visitor permits are valid only in the designated spaces allocated to the issuing department, on the date or dates specified on the permit. The number of visitor permits is for the department to decide. Provision is also made for departments to state the times between which the permit is valid.

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Charges

6.26 Council reserves the right to introduce charges for peak-time, site-specific, and off-peak permits and to review these annually. Notification of charges, and any subsequent review, will be given in the Gazette.

6.27 Where a permit is allocated to a car pool or is shared in any other way, a prime holder must be nominated who will be responsible for payment of the entire charge.

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Enforcement

6.28 The University Security Service are the authorised operator of the university-controlled car parks. They will be responsible for the regulation of both departmental, and non-departmental spaces. Vehicles parked in university car parking spaces without an appropriate permit on display will be treated as trespassing and will be liable to be clamped. Vehicles parked in prohibited areas [as defined in the Car Parking Conditions] or obstructing emergency exits will be liable to be towed away. A fee will be payable for the unclamping or retrieval of the vehicle.

6.29 No person will park a motor vehicle on a section of a car park, or roadway marked with either a continuous, wide, single yellow line, denoting an emergency services access route, or a system of continuous double yellow lines. The continuous double yellow line system on university controlled car parks and roadways means that parking is prohibited at any time. Vehicles parked in the above circumstances, will be subject to immediate removal, the costs to be borne by the driver/person in charge.

6.30 Departments will be responsible for controlling the use of any spaces allocated to them.

This version of the regulations approved by the Building and Estates Sub-Committee on Thursday 24 June 2010.

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Further Information

For further information, please contact:

Ed Wigzell:
Telephone: (2) 88782
Email Ed Wigzell