How we use your information
Parking Sessions
Aberdeen City Council collects and uses your vehicle registration number, and keeps information about parking sessions (date and times) you have paid for to administer payment for parking and as well as to enforce parking controls. Payment for parking can be done in four ways:
- Parking Meter
- By phone , online or via phone application if you set up an account with our third party payment provider.
- Nearest Paypoint store quoting the location code allocated by the third-party payment provider of where your vehicle is parked.
- By having a valid parking permit
Penalty Charge Notices
We enforce parking controls in Aberdeen City by checking the vehicle registration numbers of vehicles parked, in areas where parking restrictions are in place. Vehicle registration numbers will be cross referenced with our records of valid parking transactions and parking permits. This happens in two ways:
- City Wardens scan or enter vehicle registrations using handheld devices to check a vehicle has applicable parking rights e.g. payment for parking or a valid permit.
- If a City Warden determines that a parking contravention has occurred, they will record the vehicle registration number and take photos of the vehicle. A Penalty Charge Notice will be issued, and all information will be recorded on our Civil Enforcement system.
Bus Lane Enforcement Charge Notices
Bus Lane Operators review all footage and images captured by our network of bus lane enforcement cameras. Where they determine that a Bus Lane contravention has occurred, images and video of the vehicle are uploaded to our Civil Enforcement system.
The vehicle registration number is used to submit a request to the DVLA to obtain the name and address of the registered keeper of the vehicle. This information is then used to issue a Bus Lane Enforcement Charge Notice.
We use this information to:
- Issue a Penalty Charge Notice or Bus Lane Enforcement Charge Notice to a vehicle parked or using a bus lanes/gate in contravention.
- Pursue payment of unpaid Penalty Charge Notices and Bus Lane Enforcement Charge Notices
- To enable customers to purchase a parking session and to review previously purchased parking sessions
- To manage, report on, audit and improve the Council’s overall parking service, including enforcement with parking controls
- To manage, report on, audit and improve the Council’s enforcement of bus lane/gates.
- To investigate/ manage any complaints/ incidents which are made or arise
- For the purposes of preventing and investigating potential fraud, or the mis-use of parking permits or other payment systems.
Low Emission Zone (LEZ) Penalty Charge Notices
Operators review all images captured by our network of Low Emission Zone enforcement cameras. Where they determine that a contravention has occurred, images of the vehicle are uploaded to our Civil Enforcement system.
The vehicle registration number is used to submit a request to the DVLA to obtain the name and address of the registered keeper of the vehicle, establish if the vehicles emission are complaint with set emission standards and to check for Blue Badges that have been registered to the vehicle. This information is then used to consider enforcement and issue a Low Emission Zone Penalty Charge Notice.
We use this information to:
- Issue a Penalty Charge Notice, Low Emission Zone Penalty Charge Notice or Bus Lane Enforcement Charge Notice to a vehicle parked or using a bus lanes/gate in contravention.
- Pursue payment of unpaid Parking Penalty Charge Notices, Low Emission Zone Penalty Charge Notice and Bus Lane Enforcement Charge Notices.
- To enable customers to purchase a parking session and to review previously purchased parking sessions.
- To manage, report on, audit and improve the Council’s overall parking service, including enforcement with parking controls.
- To manage, report on, audit and improve the Council’s enforcement of bus lane/gates.
- To manage, report on, audit and improve the Council’s enforcement of Low Emission Zones.
- To investigate/ manage any complaints/ incidents which are made or arise.
- For the purposes of preventing and investigating potential fraud, or the mis-use of parking permits or other payment systems.
How we share your information
If you do not comply with the Parking Penalty Charge Notice affixed to your vehicle within 28 days, you enter a bus lane/gate or you enter a low emission zone in a non-complaint vehicle the Council will use the vehicle registration to request the name and address of the registered keeper from the DVLA. We will then store and use this information to enforce any resulting Penalty Charge or Enforcement Notice.
You can access the details of your parking/bus lane/LEZ contravention through our online portal using your notice number and vehicle registration. This portal gives you access to any images or videos that have been captured of your vehicle and the details of the contravention that has occurred. The portal also allows you the opportunity to pay the notice or submit an appeal.
The Council will share the name and address of the registered keeper or hirer (where the hire company have asked that we transfer liability to the hirer under the terms of the hire agreement) and your vehicle with a Sheriff Officer in order to enforce payment if you do not comply with the Parking Penalty Charge Notice, Low Emission Zone Penalty Charge Notice or Bus Lane Enforcement Charge Notice. In the event the Council considers it necessary to clamp or tow and impound your vehicle as part of our process for enforcing parking controls the Council will share this information with a third-party vehicle recovery contractor.
If you, as the registered keeper of the vehicle, have failed to keep the information on the V5C log-book up to date with the DVLA and documentation has been returned to us as undelivered or gone away, we may verify your name and address with our Council Tax records.
We consider requests from law enforcement bodies on a case by case basis, but will normally share relevant information where we are satisfied it is necessary for the prevention and detection of crime or the apprehension or prosecution of an offender.
How long we keep your information for
We keep parking payment transaction data for six months if you pay at a Parking Meter. If you pay for parking via an account that you have set up with our third party payment provider this data is kept for a longer time. This is because you can use your account in lots of areas and are able view your whole parking transaction history through the customer account set up with the provider.
We keep records of parking permits for a year after the permit has expired.
Where the ANPR car finds a vehicle has parking rights, no image or data is stored. Where a City Warden check finds valid parking rights, no image or data is stored.
Where a City Warden check finds the no Bus Lane contravention has occurred , no image or data is stored.
Where a Penalty Charge Notice, Low Emission Zone Penalty Charge Notice, or Bus Lane/Gate Enforcement notice is issued, the name and address of the registered keeper, any evidence generated by ANPR or city warden checks, including the vehicle registration, images and (for bus lane and low emission zone contraventions – images or videos) are kept for a period of five years from the date of compliance with the Notice (paid in full) as part of the Council’s records.
Your rights
You have rights in relation to your data, including the right to ask for a copy of it. See more information about all of the rights you have and how they work in practice, as well as contact details for the Councils data protection Officer. You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office. if you think we haven’t handled your data properly.
Our legal basis
Aberdeen City Council is the Data Controller for the information collected. Wherever we process personal information we have to make sure we have a basis for doing so in Data Protection Law. We understand our basis for enforcing Parking penalty charges, Bus Lane Enforcement Charges and Low Emission Zone Penalty Charge Notices in relation to parking, low emission zone and bus lane controls as part of our parking, low emission zone and bus lane tasks and duties. We undertake this activity as part of our public task as a local authority to provide on and off street parking enforcement and as a legal obligation under the Road Traffic Act 1991, as modified by the Road Traffic (Permitted Parking Area and Special Parking Area) (Aberdeen City Council) Designation Order 2003 as amended, The Bus Lane Contraventions (Charges, Adjudication and Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2011 and The Low Emission Zones (Emission Standards, Exemptions and Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2021.