How we use your information
Aberdeen City Council collects your personal information to process your application for a parking permit, renewal or changes, and to manage our contact with you.
We will monitor use of the permit, including enforcing the terms and conditions. We will use your information to verify your identity, this can be done by a digital identity check being carried out with Experian or by documentation you provide us as part of the application process. We will use your e-mail address to contact you with a reminder to renew your parking permit.
How we share your information
You can access the details of your parking permits through our online portal using your parking permit account. This portal gives you access to make changes to existing permits, cancel any existing permit, renew a permit or apply for a new permit. Your name, address, date of birth (if provided) and the vehicle registrations of any vehicles used on parking permits will be stored.
The Council is obliged to participate in the National Fraud Initiative in Scotland and in terms of this passes information to Audit Scotland for data matching to detect fraud or possible fraud. You can find details of this exercise on Audit Scotland’s website.
When applying for a resident permit the Council will share your name, address and date of birth (if provided) with Experian in order to confirm you reside at the address you have applied for a permit. This check is carried out automatically and will allow our system to make an instant automated decision on your application. If you are not approved as part of the digital check process you will be given the opportunity to upload proof documentation to support your application which will be manually reviewed by our customer service team.
Experian uses a soft credit check which doesn't leave a visible footprint on your credit file, but it is recorded. This means no lenders can see the search made when applying for a permit with Aberdeen City Council and a soft credit check will not impact your credit score.
How long we keep your information for
Your details will be saved with your online permit account as long as it remains open. You can close your account when you have no active permits remaining. We will keep information on permits for five years from the permit’s expiry. If you close your online account information will be retained for two years following the closing of your account for auditing purposes.
Your rights
You’ve got legal rights about the way the Council handles and uses your data, which include the right to ask for a copy of it, and to ask us to stop doing something with your data. You can email the Council’s Data Protection Officer on DataProtectionOfficer@aberdeencity.gov.uk.
See more information about all of the rights you have. You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office. They are the body responsible for making sure organisations like the Council handle your data lawfully.
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 penalty charges and administrating a parking permit scheme in relation to parking controls.
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 Council has a legal obligation under Part 2A of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000, to provide Audit Scotland with data to carry out data matching exercises for the purpose of assisting in the prevention and detection of fraud.