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Disk-parking is a system of allowing time-restricted free parking through display of a parking-disk or clock-disc showing the time at which the vehicle was parked. A patrolling parking attendant can inspect the disk to check whether payment is owed. The system is common in Europe.
The original system had been introduced along with establishing a blue zone area. The blue zones in the city-centers allow for free parking of about 2 hours by using a parking-disk issued by the city while other parking zones may have stricter control by parking meters. The current unified EU parking disk regulations allow for a wider range of time restrictions that are indicated on the signs.
The latest departure-time is calculated from the displayed arrival-time on the parking-disk based on the indicated maximum parking-time. For example, if the parking-disk was set to 10:30 and the parking-sign indicated a one-hour maximum parking time, then free parking would end at 11:30. The system is intentionally set up in a way that only full and half hours are used to indicate arrival and departure. Arriving at 10:02 in a parking disc zone of one hour maximum parking-time invokes a departure time of 11:30, and hence an effective time interval of 88 minutes for free parking after arrival. In short, if the parking-sign shows a limit of one hour maximum parking-time, then the effective maximum parking-time is 61 to 90 minutes because the difference to the next half hour is added.
Drivers risk getting a ticket (if a parking enforcement officer arrives before the beginning of the indicated interval) if they set the arrival time too far into the future in an attempt to extend the allowed departure time. Drivers can, however, surreptitiously change the time on the disk before it expires, risking discovery only if an enforcement officer is nearby at the time or if the car had been previously noted by said officer.
Although the design and size of parking disks has been standardized there are often free giveaways with advertisements on the rear. Most parking discs are made of heavy paper. A common variant is made of plastic with sharp edges that can be used as an ice scraper. An illegal variation involves motorized clock discs that move the clock face in a timely manner, in an attempt to get indefinite free parking. In general, clock discs must be set with the arrow pointing to a mark and not any of the white space between, or else it would be invalid and could result in a traffic ticket.
Within Europe only the United Kingdom and Denmark have a disabled persons parking scheme where a parking disc is required in certain circumstances. The UK administration offers a variation of the parking disc design that includes the International Symbol of Access wheelchair logo, and a blue clock face in line with the EU blue badge system introduced in 2000.
A driver new to the system can get confused when not being informed about proper usage. For example, when Switzerland switched to the European-wide blue parking disc system, the "blue zones" in Basel were marked with "1 hour" signs that previously read "1½ hours", giving the impression that the time was reduced, but in fact it had not been. Another common error is when an overseas tourist might set the clock to the mark just preceding the current arrival time, which can make a one-hour parking zone as short as thirty minutes, possibly resulting in an unjustified parking ticket.
On March 31, 1979 the conference of ministers of transportation in the European Union decided that a European standard should only use designs with a single clock face. The standardized clock disc was introduced as federal law in Germany in November 1981, Response to a citizens question on parking discs; see attachment with a copy of "italic=unset"; italic=unset and similar designs were adopted in other European countries. From 1998 the old parking disc designs began to be abolished. France set the last date to 2007, while in Switzerland (not an EU member) the EU parking disc design was introduced in 2000 and the old designs abolished in 2003.
Modern parking signs demanding disc parking include a pictogram of the standardized EU parking disc along with a number showing the maximum parking time in hours.
He had already started a parking experiment in November 1955 - parking on the Champs-Élysées avenue was limited to 1 hour. In order to control the maximum parking time small pieces of paper were stuck on the outer ring of the tire with the color of the paper changing every hour. This made for an effective parking time between 1 hour to about 1 hour 55 minutes.
Additionally investigations on charging meter options were started in July 1955. The experiments, interrogations and studies lasted well into 1957 when the first "zone bleue" (blue zone) was installed in the East of Paris center (north of the Seine with boundaries at Place de l’Étoile, Gare du Nord and Louvre) that became obligatory on 1 October. Similarly to the test on the Champs-Élysées it imposed a maximum of 1 hour however it used another method of control: the prefect René Genebrier had accepted the proposal from engineer Robert Thiebault to use a device with a clock face that were to be set by the car driver to the time of arrival. The clock disc had two windows where one would show the hour of arrival and the other the hour of departure. The actual device had two clock faces - one for am time and the other for pm times.
This disc parking scheme was formally commenced 29 February 1960 by the Ministre de l'Intérieur. The blue zones were expanded at the time with a duration of one and a half hours in general.
The EU parking disc regulation was skipped in France for a long time where a general time limit of 1 hour 30 was the only regulation in effect. The EU parking disc however allows a much wider range of parking regulations which were tested first in Bron at the beginning of January 2001 when a new tramway line reached the city center. The Franklin Roosevelt Avenue was switched to a maximum of 30 minutes at the time that would a require a different clock disc. Finally the EU parking disc was officially introduced into the road statutory on 19 October 2007.
On 6 December 2007 the Ministry of the Interior implemented a regulation on a parking disc that would only have one window to show the arrival time. This new parking disc differs somewhat from the EU parking disc - it is colored in brown tone (EU disc is blue), it is square with 150 mm on each side (EU disc is rectangular) and the marks on the clock face are set in intervals of ten minutes.
However, disks sold in other EU member states are valid in France.Arrêté du 6 décembre 2007, Article 2 bis, created by Arrêté du 30 avril 2018
A later development in Switzerland was the introduction of red zones allowing for a maximum of 15 hours. This scheme required another parking disc that would allow for 24 hours to be shown.
The EU-parking disc design was introduced in 2000 and the old designs abolished in 2003. This gave rise to some confusion among car drivers since the old parking regulations denoted "1:30 h" of maximum parking time while the new parking regulations imposed a limit of "1 hour". Since this time is rounded up to the next half of an hour there was no real difference however. The blue zone parking lots were kept however in the same way as before so that the new disc parking scheme reads as follows:
This regulation is not mandatory on Sundays and national holidays. Effectively the actual legal parking time in the blue zone differs widely - arriving at 11:30 allows for legal parking up to 14:30 (about 3 hours) and arriving on Saturday at 17:31 allows for parking up to Monday 08:00 (more than 38 hours)
The blue zone parking regulations are effective continuously i.e. they are not restricted to the time span of the arrival time - a parking disc must always be used when parking a car in the blue zone (unlike in other countries where a parking disc does not need to be used outside the indicated times). The police regulations set the parking scheme as follows:
After the EU level had asked for a common parking disc with a single clock face in 1979 it was Germany to introduce a new design in November 1981 already – the "italic=unset" did specify a blue rectangle of 150 mm height and 110 mm width. The clock face has a mark per each half of an hour and the car drivers are required to put the clock-hand on the mark. Germany's neighboring countries would adopt the same design in the following decades that would eventually be the design chose for the EU parking disc.
The introduction of the EU parking disc in 1994 came about with a little variation as it required to set the mark to the next quarter of an hour:(§ 4 Abs. 3 italic=unset, italic=unset)
Consequently, the parking disc design has four marks per hour instead of two (see appendix 1 in the statutory regulation of 1994 italic=unset, italic=unset). The German/EU parking-disks are commonly accepted however when they are set correctly to the next quarter of the hour.
The regulations on the usage are identical to regulations in Germany.
However, there are some streets next to the central areas which allow for a parking disk, for example 1,5 hours being allowed at Gelderplandsplein in Southern Amsterdam.http://rivieramaison.com/international/rm-stores/riviera-maison-amsterdam-gelderlandplein.html In Wassenaar the limited time is set to 2 hours.
Although some local authorities such as those in Cumbria accept a piece of paper with the arrival time written on it, others such as Pendle do not.
Parking discs are also used in conjunction with a blue badge in certain contexts, where a time limit applies.
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