Parking ticket grace period: how many minutes do you get?

If you went a few minutes over, your ticket may be invalid. Here's how the grace period works and how to challenge a charge that ignores it.

There are actually two grace periods

• The consideration period (on entry) — time to read the signs, decide whether to park, and pay or leave. If you enter and leave without parking, you shouldn't be charged at all.
• The grace period (at the end) — extra time after your paid/permitted period ends before enforcement. Under the British Parking Association and IPC Codes of Practice, this should be at least 10 minutes.

So how many minutes is the grace period?

For private car parks, the industry codes require a minimum of 10 minutes' grace at the end of your stay. Many ANPR (camera) systems record your entry and exit times and don't properly account for this — so a "ten minute overstay" is frequently not a real overstay once the grace period and entry/exit manoeuvring time are deducted.

Why ANPR overstays are so appealable

Camera systems clock the moment you drive in and the moment you drive out. That includes the time spent finding a space, reading the terms, queuing to pay, and exiting — none of which is "parking". A charge for a short overstay is often disproportionate and doesn't reflect any genuine loss.

What to say in your appeal

State that the vehicle was within the mandatory grace/consideration period required by the relevant Code of Practice, that the recorded time does not account for it, and that on a correct calculation no enforceable overstay occurred. Ask them to cancel and, if refused, to issue a rejection notice with your POPLA/IAS code.

Read next: the full guide to appealing a parking ticket →