Parking and permits

Parking Services Privacy Notice

City of York Council (CYC) current data protection notification is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), reference Z5809563.

We regularly review the Parking Services Privacy Notice, and it was last updated in March 2026.

CYC is committed to ensuring that personal data is handled in accordance with the principles set out in data protection legislation and guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when we collect personal information about you and it applies to Parking Services.

CYC is the controller for this information unless we specifically state otherwise in this privacy notice.

You can contact the council’s Data Protection Officer at:

West Offices
Station Rise
York
YO1 6GA

Telephone: 01904 555719.

Email: information.governance@york.gov.uk.

This privacy notice should be read in conjunction with other relevant specific privacy notices that are available in our Privacy Notice.

When appropriate we will provide a ‘just in time’ notice to cover any additional processing activities not mentioned in this privacy notice.

How we collect your information

We get information about you from the following sources:

  • directly from you
  • others acting on your behalf or representing you
  • vehicle ownership checks via the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA)
  • Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)
  • third parties working on behalf of the council

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What personal data we process and why

The amount and type of information we collect from you will depend on why and how you are contacting or interacting with us, and will include personal data and certain ‘special category’ data such as:

  • name
  • address
  • contact details
  • health information
  • disability information

We will use your information to provide our parking services such as

  • parking enforcement and appeals
  • penalty charge notices (PCN) and appeals
  • bus lane enforcement and appeals
  • Blue Badge misuse
  • parking dispensations
  • car park season tickets
  • all parking permits
  • card payments for parking
  • hostile vehicle management waiver applications
  • correspondence

We will use your information to:

  • create customer accounts
  • carry out parking enforcement activities
  • deal with your challenges and queries in respect of PCNs
  • process applications and issue parking dispensations
  • process applications and issue car park season tickets
  • process applications and issue resident permits
  • process applications and issue hostile vehicle management waivers
  • take payments for season tickets, resident permits and PCNs
  • take payments for parking sessions
  • take payments for hostile vehicle management waivers
  • investigate and prosecute (if applicable) cases of Blue Badge misuse
  • investigate reports of abandoned and untaxed vehicles and their removal
  • bus lane enforcement

We may also use your information in presentations, reports and statistics for publication or use outside of the authorised council staff. These will be anonymised and cannot be linked back to you or individuals. Reports containing anonymous information may also be shared with the public and other organisations.

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Automated decision-making

We do carry out some automated decision-making without any human when applying for household permit. However, you have the right to object to this.

However, for most services we do not carry out any automated decision-making without any human intervention in providing parking services.

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Collecting information automatically

Please see our Cookies Policy for further information about the information we collect automatically when you use our website.

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Children’s information

Where we provide services directly to children or young people, the information in the relevant parts of this notice applies to children and young people, as well as adults.

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Lawful basis for processing your personal data

Any personal data, including special category data, that we process about individuals is done so in accordance with the following Articles 6 and 9 of the UK GDPR and Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018):

  • Article 6 (1) (a) Consent: the individual has given clear consent for the council to process their personal data for a specific purpose, for example take part in a survey
  • Article 6 (1) (c) Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for the council to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations)
  • Article 6 (1) (e) Public task: the processing is necessary for the council to perform a task in the public interest or for our official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law
  • Article 9 (2) (a) Explicit consent
    Article 9 (2) (g) Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law)

This is supported by the following legal framework:

Some of the Schedule 1 conditions for processing special category data require an Appropriate Policy Document (APD) to be in place, which sets out and explains the procedures for securing compliance with the principles in Article 5 and policies regarding the retention and erasure of such personal data. This document explains this processing and satisfies the requirements of Schedule 1, Part 4 of the DPA 2018 and supplements this privacy notice.

Our Appropriate Policy Document provides further information about this processing.

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How long we keep your personal data

We will keep the information you give us securely and confidentially and only for as long as is necessary.

Retaining information for Penalty Charge Notices

We will only keep your information for as long as is necessary to comply with regulatory and legislative requirements.

Retaining information for parking permits

We will only keep your information for as long as the permit is active and for any permits that have a renewal process to save the customer time when reapplying for a permit.

Retaining information for abandoned and untaxed vehicle reports

Information provided to us by the member of the public to report such vehicles will be logged and passed to our supplier (Commercial Services Tadcaster Ltd) aiding the report to be followed up. Please contact Commercial Services Tadcaster LTD for this, either via their Facebook page, on email: admin@commercialservicesuk.com, or on telephone: 01937 849504.

The council can keep a vehicle for up to 6 weeks, in the instance that the vehicle is untaxed and does not have a valid MOT. Otherwise, the council are obliged to hold the vehicle until at least 6 weeks after the tax expires.

Details will remain on our system while the report is still live and for the purposes of DVLA audits only.

Retaining information for hostile vehicle management waivers

We will only keep your information for up to 6 years after your application has been determined. It will then be confidentially and securely deleted.

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Data sharing

In some circumstances, such as under a court order or safeguarding, we are legally obliged to share information.

For example for:

  • law enforcement
  • fraud investigations
  • regulation and licensing
  • criminal prosecutions
  • court proceedings
  • enforcement purposes such as enforcing parking contraventions
  • debt collection

We may also share information about you internally and externally with third parties including our data processors, government agencies and external auditors, to provide you with Parking Services and products. We will always satisfy ourselves that we have a lawful basis on which to share the information and document our decision-making.

We must protect public funds and may use personal data and data-matching techniques to detect and prevent fraud, collect taxes and ensure public money is targeted and spent in the most appropriate and cost-effective way. To do this, your personal data may be shared with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, including the Department for Work and Pensions, HM Revenue and Customs, the Police and other local authorities.

Additionally we are required under the Public Records Act 1958 (as amended) to transfer records to the City or National Archives (TNA) for permanent preservation. Full consideration will be given to Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation when making decisions about whether such records should be open to the public.

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Data processors and/or third parties

Where we work with third parties or we have third parties providing parts or all of our services for us, we have contracts or agreements in place with them. These are listed below

 

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Transfers of personal data

We don’t routinely transfer personal data outside of the UK but when this is necessary we ensure that we have appropriate safeguards in place and that is done in accordance with the UK data protection and privacy legislation.

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How we protect your information

We're committed to keeping your information safe and secure. There are several ways we do this, such as:

  • IT security safeguards such as firewalls, encryption, and anti-virus software
  • on-site security safeguards to protect physical files and electronic equipment
  • training for all staff and elected councillors
  • policies and procedures

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Your rights in relation to this processing

To find out about your rights under data protection law, you can go to the Information Commissioner's Office website.

You can also find information about your rights in our Privacy Notice.

If you have any questions about this privacy notice, want to exercise your rights, or if you have a complaint about how your information has been used, please contact us on email: information.governance@york.gov.uk, or on telephone: 01904 555719, or write to:

Data Protection Officer
City of York Council
West Offices
Station Rise
York YO1 6GA

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Also see

Information Governance Team

West Offices, Station Rise, York, YO1 6GA

Telephone: 01904 555719

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