In April 2007, the Isle of Wight Council made the decision to introduce free parking for electric cars and environmentally friendly vehicles, defined as those in ‘Vehicle Excise Duty bands A & B with CO2 emissions of 120g /km or less’. (The general rule is any vehicles that are required to pay £35 or less car tax for a 12 month period).

These vehicles are permitted to park for up to 8 hours in any long stay car park, 5 hours in shoppers’ car parks or 3 hours in short stay car parks. Within each car park there is a Tariff Board which clearly advises the relevant time restriction.

If you need to park longer than the free period given, then a top up ticket can be purchased from the machine for the additional time required, up to the maximum permitted stay for the class of the car park. Alternatively, you could purchase an Island Residents Permit along with a Residents’ Supplementary permit to give you unlimited stay in one nominated Long Stay parking place.

Please note that there is no exemption for vehicles to park free of charge in any on-street pay and display bays.

You are not required to complete an application form to obtain free parking as you will not be issued with a parking permit or time-clock. The 'Civil Enforcement Officers – Parking Services’) will determine eligibility from exemption through the details displayed on the tax disc. They will then log the vehicle and allow the relevant 8/5/3 hour period from this time.

To ascertain whether you are eligible to receive free parking, just click the link below. This will take you to the DVLA website to enable you to check whether your vehicle is ‘environmentally friendly’.

http://www.vehiclelicence.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/index.jsp