Local parking guide

Parking in Oxford

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

Oxfordshire County CouncilOxfordshireEngland

Oxford runs Britain's first Zero Emission Zone, and it works the opposite way round from a Clean Air Zone. In a Clean Air Zone you either meet the standard and pay nothing, or you fail it and pay. In Oxford's zone almost everyone pays something: £2 a day if your car emits under 75g of CO₂ per kilometre, £4 if it is a reasonably modern petrol or diesel, £10 if it is neither. Only a genuinely zero-emission vehicle pays nothing. The zone is small — nine streets in the city centre — and runs 7am to 7pm, every day of the year. Separately, and on different streets, six traffic filters have replaced the old congestion charging points since Monday 28 September 2026. There is no longer anything to pay at them: cars and motorhomes need a permit to pass, everything else passes freely, and driving a car through without a permit is a £70 penalty. Electric cars are not exempt from the filters either. On-street parking is the third thing, and it is expensive: £7.60 an hour in the centre, with a two-hour maximum. The same council charges £1.50 an hour in Banbury.

Oxfordshire County Council Oxfordshire England

Band 2Penalty charge band
£6.30–£7.60/hourOn-street tariff
NoFree on Sundays

Oxfordshire publishes its controlled parking zones on an interactive map rather than as a list or a count, and permit prices are only shown once you find your zone on it.

What a ticket costs in Oxford

Oxfordshire County Council issues penalty charge notices at Band 2.

LevelFull chargeIf paid early
Higher level £70 £35
Lower level £50 £25

What the higher and lower levels mean, and every stage if you do not pay →

Other charges you can get in Oxford

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

ChargeAmountIf paid earlyNotes
Zero Emission Zone daily charge — ultra-low emission vehicle, under 75g/km CO₂ £2 A genuinely zero-emission vehicle pays nothing at all. Everything else pays one of these three rates for the day, however many times it enters. Not a penalty: pay it and there is nothing further.
Zero Emission Zone daily charge — Euro 4 petrol or Euro 6 diesel £4 Most cars on the road today sit here. In a Clean Air Zone the same car would pay nothing.
Zero Emission Zone daily charge — everything else £10 Anything not meeting one of the standards above.
Zero Emission Zone penalty charge notice £60 £30 For not paying the daily charge. 28 days to pay or challenge; half price within 14 days; £90 after a charge certificate.
Traffic filter penalty charge notice £70 £35 £105 if unpaid after 28 days, with 21 days for the discount because it comes from a camera. For the first six months of the trial, a first-time contravention gets a warning notice instead of a penalty. The £5 congestion charge it replaced ended on 27 September 2026.

Paying by phone

Oxfordshire County Council accepts RingGo, JustPark, PayByPhone and APCOA. 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
Oxford Zone 1 — city centre pay and display 8am to 10pm Monday to Sunday Two-hour maximum during the day, and no return within one hour.
Oxford Zone 2 — pay and display 8am to 10pm Monday to Sunday Three-hour maximum during the day, and no return within one hour.
Zero Emission Zone — New Road, Bonn Square, Queen Street, Cornmarket Street, New Inn Hall Street, Shoe Lane, part of Market Street, Ship Street and St Michael's Street 7am to 7pm Every day of the year Not a parking restriction: a charge for driving in at all. Nine streets only.
Traffic filters — St Clement's Street, St Cross Road, Hythe Bridge Street, Thames Street, Hollow Way and Marston Ferry Road 7am to 7pm (Hollow Way and Marston Ferry Road 7 to 9am and 3 to 6pm) Every day including bank holidays Cars and motorhomes only, and only with a permit; all other vehicles pass at any time. Replaced the congestion charging points on 28 September 2026 — paying to pass is no longer possible.

On-street tariffs

AreaPer hourMaximum stayNotes
Zone 1 — city centre £7.60 2 hours £7.60 for one hour and £15.20 for two; the ladder is linear. No return within an hour. From 6.30pm to 10pm it becomes a flat £7.60 however long you stay — the price of a single daytime hour.
Zone 2 £6.30 3 hours £6.30 an hour, £12.60 for two and £19.00 for three, Monday to Saturday. No return within an hour. From 6.30pm, and all day Sunday, it is a flat £6.30 whatever the length of stay — a whole Sunday costs what one hour costs on a Tuesday.

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
22 Re-parked in the same parking place within one hour of leaving Lower
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

Park and ride

  • Seacourt (west) · A Park + Bus ticket is £3 for return bus travel and up to 16 hours of parking, for up to five people.
  • Redbridge (south) · Same Park + Bus ticket.
  • Thornhill (east) · Same Park + Bus ticket.
  • Pear Tree (north) · Same Park + Bus ticket.
  • Oxford Parkway (north) · On the rail line as well as the bus route.

Who enforces, and where to appeal

Oxfordshire County Council enforces on-street parking in Oxford — it has done since February 1997 — and also runs the Zero Emission Zone, the congestion charge and the bus gates. Oxford City Council runs the off-street car parks and the park and ride sites. Two councils, and the one named on your notice depends on where you were standing.

Oxford is outside London, so an appeal goes to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal once the county council has rejected your representations. Check which scheme the notice came from before you count days: a parking ticket is £70 or £50 with 14 days at half price, a Zero Emission Zone notice is £60 with 14 days, and a congestion or traffic filter notice is £70 with 21.

How to challenge a ticket, step by step →

Related rules

Other cities

Common questions

Does an electric car pay nothing in Oxford?
In the Zero Emission Zone, yes — a zero-emission vehicle is the only thing that pays £0 there. But electric cars are not exempt from the traffic filters: like any car, an electric car needs a permit to pass one of the six filters, and without one it is a £70 penalty. Two schemes, two different questions: the zone asks how clean you are, the filters ask whether you are a car with a permit.
How is a Zero Emission Zone different from a Clean Air Zone?
A Clean Air Zone sets a standard: meet it and you pay nothing, fail it and you pay a flat daily rate. Oxford's Zero Emission Zone charges on a sliding scale instead — £2, £4 or £10 a day depending on how clean the vehicle is, with only a zero-emission vehicle free. An ordinary modern petrol car that would pay nothing in a Clean Air Zone pays £4 here.
Which streets are in the Zero Emission Zone?
Nine: New Road between Bonn Square and Castle Street, Bonn Square, Queen Street, Cornmarket Street, New Inn Hall Street, Shoe Lane, the first forty metres of Market Street from Cornmarket, Ship Street and St Michael's Street. It is a pilot area in the city centre, not a zone covering the city. Charges apply 7am to 7pm, every day of the year.
Has the congestion charge ended?
Yes. Since Monday 28 September 2026 the £5 charge has been replaced by traffic filters at the same six locations — Hollow Way and Marston Ferry Road from 7 to 9am and 3 to 6pm, and St Clement's, St Cross Road, Hythe Bridge Street and Thames Street from 7am to 7pm. Paying is no longer an option: cars need a permit, and driving through without one is a £70 penalty, halved to £35 within 21 days. Existing congestion charge permits were transferred, and for the first six months a first-time contravention gets a warning notice.
Who issues my Oxford parking ticket?
Oxfordshire County Council, if you were parked on the street — it has been the enforcement authority in the city since 1997. Oxford City Council issues notices in its own car parks and at the park and rides. They are separate bodies with separate processes, so send your challenge to the one named on the notice.
What does on-street parking cost in Oxford?
£7.60 an hour in Zone 1 with a two-hour maximum, and £6.30 an hour in Zone 2 with a three-hour maximum, both 8am to 10pm seven days a week. Evenings from 6.30pm are a flat rate — the price of one daytime hour, however long you stay — and in Zone 2 that flat rate covers the whole of Sunday too. There is a no-return rule of one hour in both zones.
Can I pay by scanning a QR code on the machine?
No, and you should not try. The county council has found fake QR codes stuck on its pay and display machines and states that it does not accept QR code payment at all. Pay at the machine by cash or card, or use RingGo, JustPark, PayByPhone or APCOA.

Sources

Figures last checked 19 October 2026