Car parks

Charges apply Monday to Saturday 0800 to 1800 and on Sundays 12 noon to 1800 every day except Christmas Day and Easter Sunday.
Evening charges apply 1800 to 12 midnight every day of the year in our multi-storey car parks (MSCPs).

If you intend to exit the multi-storey car parks after 1800 please add evening charges to the daily charge.

Parking charges vary and are displayed at each location. The overnight tariff in the multi-storey car parks begins at 6pm through to midnight.
Southampton parking meters accept payment by a choice of;
• Cash - coins over 10p denomination (notes only accepted in our pay on foot MSCPs)
• Chip and pin credit and debit cards
• Contactless enabled ‘wave and pay’ cards in our surface car parks only
• Decrementing and Pay as You Park Cards in our MSCPs
(Please note Marlands MSCP has its own decrementing card)

Parking is paid in person either by pay and display (purchase a ticket for a set period of time on entering a car park and display in your vehicle) or pay on foot (a ticket is given on entry to the car park and payment is made at a pay station on return to vehicle prior to leaving.) We have created a handy guide to help you if this is your first time using our car park payment machines.

Blue badge holders need to pay for their parking when using the Pay on Foot multi-storey car parks; Bedford Place, Eastgate, Grosvenor square and Marlands. Please see our parking for blue badge holders web page for further information.

You must display your parking ticket so that it can be seen clearly from the outside of your vehicle if you wish to avoid a Penalty Charge Notice. Free plastic holders are available for the pay and display tickets purchased from our machines. These holders stick to the inside of a car windscreen, and allow for a pay and display ticket to be clearly displayed. The holders can be used continuously thereafter.
To obtain one please ring or write to us at the address below (enclosing a stamped addressed envelope).

For vehicle safety and security reasons we do not encourage 24 hour parking in our surface car parks, however those customers wishing to leave their car for longer may like to use the ‘Park Mark’ accredited car parks which are accessed and exited by barrier with number plate recognition and CCTV monitoring 24 hours a day. Please note that daytime and evening charges apply in these car parks.

Charges apply between 6pm – 12 midnight in all council owned multi-storey car parks.
Please read the tariff displayed in the car park.

You can use overnight season tickets in our long stay car parks. The application form is available from the downloadable documents section of this page
• Overnight season tickets (12 months) are available at £250.
• Replacement of any Season Ticket is £13

Lifts are provided in our MSCPs. These are regularly maintained and serviced by our external contractor to minimise any potential breakdown although we can never guarantee that the lifts will be completely trouble free. The help button is manned constantly and goes to our Community Alarm Team.
We do not provide dedicated mother and baby places in any of our car parks except The Quays. We cannot guarantee the availability of these spaces.

Below we detail the lift access in each MSCP:
• Bedford Place – all floors have lift access. On half floors access is via a level marked walkway.
• Eastgate – no lift access to floor 9 and 10. The lift stops at odd numbered floors with level walkways access to even numbered floors.
• Grosvenor Square – there is no lift access to the roof top level floor 6. All other floors have lift access, with level walkway access to half floors.
• Marlands – all floors have direct lift access
• West Park – lift access to odd numbered floors only

Daily charges apply between 0800 and 1800, and evening charges apply between 1800 and 12 midnight in our multi-storey car parks (except west Park multi-storey Car park). It is free to park between midnight and 0800.

You will need to add the fee due from the daily tariff, to the evening tariff if you arrive before 1800 but leave after 1800.

For example: If you enter the car park at noon and wish to stay until 8pm the charge would be 1200 to 1800 at daily rate for 6 hours plus 1800 to 2000 at evening rate for 2 hours.

The special £5.00 all day parking fee in this car park has been calculated based on a vehicle entering the car park at 0800 when the daily charging period commences and staying the full 10 hours until 1800 when daily charging period ends and evening charging period begins.
The maximum you will be charged for parking during the period ‘daily charges’ would be £5.00

If you exit the car park after 1800 you will have to pay the additional evening charge.

A pre-paid Marlands Decrementing Card is available for purchase for regular users of the car park. Please download an application form available at the end of this page.

Valid for use in Eastgate Street, Grosvenor Square, & Bedford Place multi-storey car parks.
The pre payment card helps with budgeting and avoids the need to have correct change to hand when paying for parking in our pay on foot multi-storey car parks.

On approaching the car park you should present the ‘Pay as You Park’ card to the card reader adjacent to the barrier. On leaving the car park present the ‘Pay as You Park’ card to the reader adjacent to the exit barrier. The value of the stay will be deducted from the card and the balance remaining displayed. The barrier will open to allow you to exit the car park.

Users of the ‘Pay as you Park’ card receive 20 per cent discount on every transaction.
‘Pay as you Park’ cards can be purchased in the following denominations;
£50, £75, £100, £250, £500, £1,000, £1,500. We also offer the opportunity to purchase a ‘nil value’ Pay as You Park Card which can be topped up with as little as £5.00.

Cards can be topped up at pay station using a credit card in £10.00 increments or at the Gateway office.

Please note if you choose to top up your 'pay as you park' card at the Gateway office by credit card, a two and a half percent surcharge may be added to the transaction. There will be no surcharge for topping up your 'pay as you park' card at the pay station in the car park.
Application forms can be downloaded from the foot of this page.

There is an administration charge to replace lost or stolen pay as you park cards.

Season Tickets are valid for use in some Southampton City Councils long stay general purpose car parks and West Park Multi-storey Car Park only. They are not valid in short stay car parks or any of our other MSCPs.
5 days per week Season Ticket charges;
1 month £136
3 months £416
6 months £832
12 months £1664

6/7 days per week Season Ticket charges;
1 month £184
3 months £540
6 months £1080
12 months £2160

Overnight 12 months season tickets for all multi storey car parks £250
Replacement of any Season Ticket £13

The Season Ticket can be shared by up to 4 vehicles but can only be displayed on one at a time. It is the driver’s responsibility to ensure that the ticket is clearly displayed at all times and that the vehicle is parked within a marked parking bay.

The issue of a Season Ticket does not guarantee the holder a parking space.

Please note that if purchasing your season ticket using a credit card there will be an additional surcharge of two and a half percent. There is no surcharge if purchased using a debit card or cheque.

If you are visiting the SeaCity Museum we recommend you use our pay on foot multi-storey car parks. The advantage is that you do not have to guess how long you are staying as you pay when you leave for the time you have parked. We have produced a handy guide for parking for SeaCity.

Information on parking for cruise liner passengers can be found on our visit Southampton site.

For vehicle safety/ security reasons we do not encourage 24 hour parking in our surface car parks, however those customers wishing to leave their car for longer may like to use the Park Mark accredited multi-storey car parks.

See above regarding 24 hour parking.

The government has given power to councils to be responsible for enforcing controls and restrictions for all on and off street parking.
In Southampton (under Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act) Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) carry out on and off-street enforcement. They make regular patrols of car parks and on street parking places to make sure that everyone complies with the regulations governing the parking places.

We enforce the parking controls and restrictions rigorously but fairly for everyone's benefit. Where a contravention has occurred a Penalty Charge Notice can be issued by our trained Civil Enforcement Officers. The Penalty Charge is on a two tier system with a higher charge for those contraventions deemed as being more serious. The penalty charge should be paid within 28 days (reduced by 50% if payment is made within 14 days) beginning with the date on which the notice was served.

Civil Enforcement Officers are trained to assist members of the public with their requests for information and advice. However, they cannot withdraw a notice once it has started or been issued. Once a notice has been issued, there is an appeals procedure which is indicated on the reverse of the notice.

To prevent the issue of a Penalty Charge Notice you will need to observe some guidelines when parking your car in our car parks.

• Park within the marked bays.

• Do not park in the disabled bays unless you hold a valid blue badge, which will need to be displayed correctly.

• Purchase a valid parking ticket for the time you intend to be parked.

• Clearly display your parking ticket so that it can be seen from outside the vehicle. (Our free plastic holders detailed below may prevent your ticket been blown face down or off the dashboard when you close the car doors)

Free plastic ticket holders are available for the pay and display tickets purchased from our machines. These holders stick to the inside of a car windscreen, and allow for a pay and display ticket to be clearly displayed.
To obtain one please ring, or write to us at the address below (enclosing a stamped addressed envelope).