Local parking guide

Parking in Bath

What a parking ticket costs in Bath, which zones apply, who enforces it and how to challenge one.

Bath and North East Somerset CouncilSomersetEngland

In Bath the price of parking depends on what you drive. Not just where you park or for how long — the actual hourly charge is worked out from your vehicle's CO₂ figure in the DVLA record, with diesels paying more. It applies to the council's car parks, to on-street pay and display, and to residents' permits. Which means there is no tariff to look up: the machine reads your registration and tells you what your car costs. The city also had England's first charging clean air zone. It started on 15 March 2021, ahead of Birmingham and everywhere since, and it is a Class C zone: taxis, private hire vehicles, minibuses, vans and pick-ups pay £9 a day if they do not meet the standard, and buses, coaches and lorries pay £100. Cars, SUVs, four-by-fours, campervans and most motorcycles pay nothing at all. One thing the council does not publish is what a parking ticket costs. Its pages set out how to pay one and the 14-day discount, but never the figure the discount is taken from.

Bath and North East Somerset Council Somerset England

Bath and North East Somerset publishes its residents' parking zones individually rather than as a count.

There is no single hourly rate in Bath. On-street pay and display has been priced by the vehicle's CO₂ emissions since March 2025, calculated automatically from DVLA records at the machine or in the app, so the same bay costs different drivers different amounts.

What a ticket costs in Bath

Bath and North East Somerset does not publish the amount of a parking penalty charge. Its pay page, its challenge page and its enforcement hub all describe the process and the 14-day discount without ever stating the figure the discount applies to. The amount is on the notice itself.

Clean Air Zone: class C

A class C zone charges buses, coaches, taxis, private hire vehicles, heavy goods vehicles and vans. Anything not on that list is not charged for entering the zone at all.

Ultra low emission vehicles with significant zero emission capability are exempt from charges across all classes.

GOV.UK, Annex A to the Clean Air Zone Framework for England

Other charges you can get in Bath

Not every notice you get is a parking ticket. These are issued under different powers, and some of them cost more.

ChargeAmountIf paid earlyNotes
Clean Air Zone daily charge — taxi, private hire vehicle, minibus, van, light goods vehicle or pick-up £9 Payable for each day a non-compliant vehicle is driven in the zone. Not a penalty: pay it and there is nothing further. You have seven days including the day of travel to pay before a penalty is issued.
Clean Air Zone daily charge — bus, coach or heavy goods vehicle £100 More than eleven times the van rate. A privately owned heavy goods vehicle registered with the council pays £9 instead.
Clean Air Zone penalty charge notice £120 £60 For not paying the daily charge within seven days. £180 after a charge certificate, and you still owe the daily charge underneath it.
Resident parking permit Not confirmed Priced by CO₂ band, with diesels paying 25 per cent more and cars registered before 2001 priced by engine size instead. We do not state a figure: the council's published table and its own 2025-26 charges review do not agree on what the baseline permit costs, so the price should be read from the council's permit pages rather than from us.

Paying by phone

Bath and North East Somerset Council accepts MiPermit. Check the sign in the bay for the location code before you start a session — it is the code, not the street name, that decides what you are charged.

Controlled parking zones

ZoneHoursDaysNotes
Clean Air Zone, Bath city centre 24 hours Every day of the year Not a parking restriction — a charge for driving in. Cars are not charged.

The codes you will see on a ticket here

Every penalty charge notice carries a contravention code. It tells you what you are accused of, and whether the charge is at the higher or the lower level.

CodeWhat it meansLevel
01 Parked in a restricted street during prescribed hours Higher
02 Parked or loading/unloading in a restricted street where waiting and loading/unloading restrictions are in force Higher
05 Parked after the expiry of paid for time at a pay and display bay Lower
06 Parked without clearly displaying a valid pay and display ticket or voucher Lower
12 Parked in a residents' or shared use parking place without a valid permit Higher
23 Parked in a parking place not designated for that class of vehicle Higher
25 Parked in a loading place during restricted hours without loading Higher
30 Parked for longer than permitted Lower
34 Being in a bus lane Higher
40 Parked in a designated disabled person's parking place without displaying a valid disabled person's badge Higher

Who enforces, and where to appeal

Bath and North East Somerset Council enforces on-street parking, bus lanes, moving traffic contraventions and the Clean Air Zone. Four kinds of notice, and only one of them is a parking ticket.

Bath is outside London, so appeals go to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, which handles the Bath Clean Air Zone as well as parking notices. Challenge the council first — its rejection is what opens the tribunal. A parking penalty is discounted if you pay within 14 days, and a Clean Air Zone penalty likewise.

How to challenge a ticket, step by step →

Related rules

Other cities

Common questions

Why can't I find out what parking costs in Bath?
Because it depends on your car. Since March 2025 on-street pay and display has been priced by the vehicle's CO₂ emissions, following the DVLA's vehicle excise duty bands, with diesels charged more than petrol. The council's car parks have worked this way since September 2023 and residents' permits since January 2022. The machine or the app reads your registration and applies the right band, so there is no single hourly figure to publish.
Do I pay to drive into Bath's Clean Air Zone?
Not in a car. Bath runs a Class C zone, which charges non-compliant taxis, private hire vehicles, minibuses, vans, light goods vehicles and pick-ups £9 a day, and non-compliant buses, coaches and heavy goods vehicles £100. Cars, SUVs, four-by-fours, campervans and most motorcycles are outside it entirely, however old they are.
How long do I have to pay the Clean Air Zone charge?
Seven days, counting the day you travelled. Miss that and you get a penalty charge notice of £120, halved to £60 if you pay within 14 days and rising to £180 after a charge certificate — and the original daily charge is still owed on top.
When did Bath's zone start?
15 March 2021, which made it the first of England's charging clean air zones to begin operating. Like all of them it runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and it covers the city centre.
What does a parking ticket cost in Bath?
The council does not publish the amount. Its pages explain how to pay, how to challenge and that a discount applies if you pay within 14 days, but never state the figure the discount is taken from. It is printed on the notice. We will not infer it from what neighbouring councils charge.
What does a resident permit cost?
It is priced by your car's CO₂ band, with a 25 per cent premium for diesel, and cars registered before 2001 are priced by engine size instead. We are not quoting a figure: the council's published permit table and its own 2025-26 charges review disagree about what the baseline is, so read the price from the council's permit pages.
Is Bath going to charge by the size of the car?
It has consulted on it. The 2026-27 parking charges consultation proposed adding a size element on top of the emissions one, so that a small car would pay less and a large van considerably more for the same permit. That is a proposal, not a rule: nothing here says it has been made, and we will not report it as if it had.

Sources

Figures last checked 9 September 2026