Westminster Visitor Parking Permits: There Is No Scheme

If you have been searching for Westminster visitor parking permits, the answer is short and the council states it plainly: there is no such thing. Its own visitor parking page, last updated on 19 January 2026, says “we do not operate a Visitor Permit scheme for parking on-street”. Every other London borough your friends live in probably has one. Westminster does not, and it has not quietly changed.

That leaves your guest with three real options: pay to park by app, buy a Parking Card from a library, or arrive after controlled hours end. Those are not equal, and on the council’s own published figures the difference for a single hour can be more than a tenner. Here is what actually applies, checked against the council’s fee schedule and its visitor parking page in September 2026.

The one exception: council estates

There is a narrow exception, and it is not on-street. If you live on a Westminster council estate, the housing service does run limited visitor and contractor parking within the estate itself: daily permits that must be displayed, parking only in marked bays, and a cap on how many you can buy. The council says details come from your local area office, and that visitor parking scratch cards can be ordered by telephone and posted to your home address within seven working days.

Enforcement on the estates is now live in most of the borough, with council marshals issuing charge notices to vehicles without a valid displayed permit, so the old habit of a visitor parking in an estate bay unmarked is over.

Everything below this point is about the public street, where no visitor scheme exists at all.

What an hour actually costs your guest

Westminster prices kerbside parking by zone and by the vehicle’s CO2 emissions, checked by a DVLA look-up when payment is made. There are five emissions bands plus a motorcycle rate, and a 50 per cent diesel surcharge on top for pre-2015 diesels in bands 2 to 5.

The spread is startling. On the schedule current from 13 July 2026, one hour costs:

• £1.51 for a zero-emission car in zone C, the cheapest hour in the borough
• £10.58 for a band 5 petrol car in zone F or G
• £15.87 for a band 5 pre-2015 diesel in zone F or G, once the surcharge lands

So the single most useful thing you can tell a visitor is which zone your street is in, and that an old diesel is going to be expensive. The full band-by-band table is on our page covering Westminster parking charges by zone and emissions band.

Whatever they pay, add the extras. Since 1 October 2025 each app operator applies its own end-user charge of up to 30p per transaction, and optional text messages cost 20p for the booking confirmation and 20p for the expiry reminder. On a one-hour stop in zone C that overhead is a meaningful proportion of the bill.

Parking Cards: the option nobody mentions, and it is often cheaper

Westminster still sells Parking Cards, the scratchcards you buy in advance and display on the dashboard. You can buy them from a Westminster library, each card buys one hour in a pay-to-park bay, and you buy the card for the zone you intend to park in, A to G.

Now compare the published prices. In the same fee schedule, a Parking Card costs:

Those figures are identical to the zonal base rate in the same document, the rate motorcycles pay. They are not banded by emissions. A band 5 petrol car paying by app in zone F pays £10.58 for that hour; the Parking Card for zone F is £6.83. A pre-2015 diesel in the same bay and band would pay £15.87 by app.

For a visitor with an older or larger car, buying cards in advance is therefore the cheapest legitimate way to park in Westminster, and it also avoids the operator’s transaction charge and the SMS fees. For a zero-emission or low-emission car the app is usually cheaper, because band 1 sits 30 per cent below the base rate.

Two practical notes. Buy them before the visit, since you cannot get one at 8pm on a Saturday, and buy the right zone. The council also says old cards with rates printed on them are still honoured, so an unused card from a previous visit is not wasted. Coach Parking Cards exist for coach bays city-wide, apart from the overnight bays in Bulleid Way.

The free option: arrive after controlled hours

Westminster’s pay-to-park and single yellow line restrictions end earlier than most people assume, and the council explicitly tells visitors that outside controlled hours they should “park safely and considerately on single yellow lines”.

That is the genuinely free answer for an evening visit, and it is why dinner guests are far cheaper than lunch guests. The hours are not the same as the resident bay hours on the same street, which is the trap: our page on Westminster parking zones and hours sets out where the difference bites.

Two cautions. Double yellow lines are never available, at any hour. And a bay marked for permit holders is not the same as a single yellow, so read the plate at the bay rather than the general zone sign.

How your guest pays, now that ParkRight is gone

The payment landscape changed twice in the last year and old advice is everywhere.

• The ParkRight app has been switched off and is no longer operational. If your visitor has it on their phone, it will not work.
• Since 1 October 2025 you can pay through any of three operators’ apps: RingGo, PaybyPhone and JustPark. The parking charge is the same in all three; only the operator’s end-user charge differs, up to that 30p ceiling.
• RingGo also still takes payment by telephone on 020 7125 9090, with a text option on 07860 022 205, which matters for an older visitor who does not want to install anything.
• Pay and display machines and payment terminals have been removed from Westminster streets altogether. There is no coin option any more.

The QR code sticker scam, and where it is worst

The council has published a warning that fake “Scan to Pay” QR code stickers are being applied to its pay-to-park Conditions of Use signs, and it names the areas where it is worst: zone E, covering Mayfair and St James’s, and zone F, covering Hyde Park, Marylebone and Fitzrovia.

The rule is simple and worth passing on before a visit: Westminster does not use QR codes for parking payment at all. The only legitimate routes are the three apps, the RingGo phone line, and a Parking Card. Marshals are removing the stickers as they find them, but a visitor who scans one and enters card details has handed those details to somebody else, and still has no valid parking session.

Off-street, if the street is hopeless

The council does not run any off-street car parks in the borough. The multi-storeys are commercial: Titan at Leicester Square, Q-Park and NCP among others. For a long visit in the middle of the West End, a pre-booked off-street space often works out better than several hours of band 4 or band 5 kerbside charges, and it removes the risk of an overstay.

That risk is not trivial. Westminster issued 650,100 penalty charge notices in 2025/26, and a lower charge PCN is £110 while a higher charge is £160, halved if paid within 14 days. Our page on Westminster parking fines and the bailiff firms covers what happens after that.

What to send a visitor before they set off

1. Your street’s zone letter, A to G.
2. A warning that the charge depends on their car’s emissions, not your address, and that a pre-2015 diesel pays half as much again.
3. Which of RingGo, PaybyPhone or JustPark they should install, or the RingGo phone number.
4. Never scan a QR code on a parking sign in Westminster.
5. If they are coming after controlled hours, tell them which single yellows are usable and remind them that double yellows never are.

And if you were hoping to buy them a permit, you cannot. That is the whole answer.

Frequently asked questions

Does Westminster have visitor parking permits? No. Westminster City Council states on its own visitor parking page that it does not operate a visitor permit scheme for on-street parking. Visitors have to use pay-to-park bays, buy a Parking Card, or park outside controlled hours.

Can I get visitor parking if I live on a Westminster council estate? Yes, within the estate only. A limited number of spaces are set aside for residents’ visitors and contractors, daily permits must be displayed, parking is confined to marked bays and the number you can buy is capped. Visitor scratch cards can be ordered by phone and are posted within about seven working days.

What does it cost a visitor to park in Westminster for an hour? Between £1.51 and £15.87, depending on the zone and the vehicle. A zero-emission car in zone C is at the cheap end; a pre-2015 diesel in band 5 in zone F or G is at the top, once the 50 per cent diesel surcharge is added. Add up to 30p per transaction for the app operator’s charge.

Are Westminster Parking Cards cheaper than the app? For most vehicles, yes. Parking Cards are sold at the zonal base rate, which is not adjusted for emissions, so a band 3, 4 or 5 vehicle pays less with a card than through an app, and avoids the operator’s transaction fee. A band 1 zero-emission car is cheaper on the app, because it pays 30 per cent below the base rate.

Where do I buy a Westminster Parking Card? From a Westminster library, in advance, for the specific zone you intend to park in. Each card covers one hour. Older cards with printed rates are still accepted.

Can visitors still pay for parking with cash or at a machine? No. Pay and display machines and payment terminals have been removed from Westminster’s streets. Payment is by the RingGo, PaybyPhone or JustPark apps, by telephone through RingGo, or with a Parking Card.

Is the ParkRight app still working? No. The council has confirmed that ParkRight has been switched off and is no longer operational. Anyone still relying on it needs to install one of the three current apps instead.