Car Parking

Following extensive planning and consultation, car parking charges will be in place in all of the Palace’s public car parks from August 2023.

The charges will support our charity’s work to care for the Park and Palace, for the benefit and enjoyment of all.

More information and FAQs are detailed below.

How to pay

You can pay for parking when you arrive (via onsite payment machines only) or within 24 hours of leaving, via the following methods. If prompted, our Location ID is 685981.

  • Via the ECP parkbuddy app available via Google Play or App Store
  • Online
  • Onsite: there are cashless payment terminals in the car parks at the Park and Palace. Please note that we do not accept American Express cards.

Tariffs

Daily Tariff BandTariff £
0 - 30minFree
30min - 1hr£1.50
1hr – 2hr£3.00
2hr – 3hr£4.50
3hr – 4hr£6.00
Up to 24hrs£8.00

FAQs

The main reason for introducing parking charges is financial. The charges will support our work to care for and improve the Park and Palace for the benefit of all, now and in the future.

All monies raised from car park charges, as with all income raised from activities on site, will go directly towards our charitable purposes – to maintain and improve the Park and Palace, and to deliver great experiences for everyone. We could use the income for a range of things including:

  • Repair projects in and around the building, or upgrades to Park infrastructure and planting;
  • Bringing more spaces back into use for the public to enjoy, including new attractions and facilities;
  • Our creative learning programme, so a wide range of people can continue to learn about, enjoy and benefit from the Park and Palace

The charges have been in operation in all our public car parks from 7 August 2023. The charges will apply seven days a week, 365 days a year.

The charges will apply seven days a week, 365 days a year. The first 30mins will be free. Blue Badge holders will not be charged.

Daily Tariff Band Tariff £
0 – 30min Free
30min – 1hr £1.50
1hr – 2hr £3.00
2hr – 3hr £4.50
3hr – 4hr £6.00
Up to 24hrs £8.00

 

We have taken independent advice from a sustainable transport planning and research consultancy (Integrated Transport Planning Ltd). They have proposed a tariff structure using information from comparable venues and parkland, on-street parking charges locally and shopping parking, whilst at the same time taking into account our context, operational requirements and the range and visitation patterns of our users.

You can pay for parking when you arrive (via onsite payment machines only) or within 24 hours of leaving, via the following methods. If prompted, our Location ID is 685981.

  • Via the ECP parkbuddy app available via Google Play or App Store
  • Online
  • Onsite: there are cashless payment terminals in the car parks at the Park and Palace. Please note that we do not accept American Express cards.

The charges will support our work to care for and improve the Park and Palace for the benefit of all, now and in the future.

If you have any issues making a payment, please contact Euro Car Parks here.

Yes, we need to provide consistency for our visitors. The charges will apply seven days a week, 365 days a year.

The first 30 minutes of parking will be free of charge.

All vehicles will be charged to park on site for longer than 30 minutes.

Yes. If you are a Blue Badge holder, in order to ensure you are exempt from paying for parking scan your Blue Badge on our onsite payment machines and follow the instructions.

Alternatively, if you are a regular visitor, please contact our team via parking@alexandrapalace.com and we can ensure you are covered for Blue Badge parking, without having to scan your Blue Badge during each visit.

No, they will be the same 365 days of the year. It is important to ensure we are consistent with charging.

Yes you can, though you have to do this within 24 hours of leaving to avoid a Penalty Charge Notice.

You can pay for parking up to 24 hours after your visit. If you do not pay within this timeframe you will receive a Penalty Charge Notice.

The East Court car park is open seven days a week from 05.30 – 00.30hrs. Last entry is 20.00 each day, excluding event days when hours will vary.

The Grove car park is open seven days a week from 06.00 – 19.00hrs each day, excluding event days when hours will vary.

The Paddocks car park is open for specific events only. Please see onsite signage for more information.

Before any work started we set out criteria to ensure that any proposals respected the site, met the needs of the charity and its operation and the wide range of uses and users. The criteria were used by ITP to assess different parking management options. The criteria included:

  • Any proposed tariffs must be affordable and not unintentionally deter people from visiting and benefiting from the use of the Park and Palace;
  • Infrastructure requirement of the system must be minimal. The location of the car parks in a parkland setting combined with the non-parking uses of some of the car parks necessitates that they are kept free of unnecessary obstructions;
  • Access and egress flows must not be impeded – this is particularly important given that at times large volumes of traffic need to enter or exit the site and the system should not increase queuing time or congestion on AP Way;
  • Cashless payment should be promoted, as the Trust is working towards cashless payment across the site. Holding high volumes of cash is seen as a safety risk;
  • Enforcement should be remotely conducted – the Trust is keen to eliminate the risk associated with officers undertaking manual patrols. Remote enforcement will be cheaper and more effective;
  • Upfront costs should be minimised – the Trust has limited funds and the main stated objective of introducing parking charges is to generate income to fund the delivery of the Trust’s charitable objectives.

The first 30 minutes will be free to allow people time for drop-off, waiting time, and pick-up.

The charging system will be barrier-free, with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras installed at the entrances of each car park.

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