Visitors parking permits

About visitors parking permits

You can buy visitor parking permits if you live in a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ).

Your guests and visitors can use them to park in a Permit Holders Only parking place or a Resident Permit Holders Only parking place within the controlled hours.

Signs on the street will give more information about the (CPZ) and its operating hours. 

We offer both virtual visitor parking permits and printed scratch card visitor parking permits.

Please be advised that you can only apply for virtual visitor permits in your NSL Apply parking permit account.

You cannot apply for the printed scratch card visitor permits in your NSL Apply parking permit account. You will need to contact the Parking Permit Team to request these.

If you apply for the virtual visitors permits, this means that you do not need to display anything in your vehicle. Your permit is electronic and is associated with the vehicle registration number. 

Patrolling Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) will be able to view your permit on their handheld devices.

If you apply for the printed scratch card visitor permits, then you would need to display the permits as per the terms and conditions of use.

Households can only purchase a maximum of 200 visitor permits in a 12 month period across both types of permit offerings. For information, the allocation of permits is reset in chronological order from the first date ordered. For example, if you purchased 200 visitor permits on the 10 January 2023 the full allocation of 200 permits would be made available on or around the 10 January 2024.

Apply for visitor permits

To apply for the visitor parking permits you will need:

• Proof of address
• Valid email address 
• Your credit or debit card details, we do not accept AMEX

Proof of address

One copy of the following accepted proof:

• your council tax demand for the last 12-month period
• your rent agreement for the last 12-month period
• a solicitor’s letter showing the house purchase completion date
• 2 utility bills from different suppliers dated and showing your name and address. These must be from within the last 12 months. They must not be mobile phone bills
• driver's licence clearly showing your name and address within the Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ)

Alternatively, you can consent to an address validation check which will be carried out by Experian during the application process. This check will not affect your credit score but will appear as a search by NSL Ltd on your credit file.

We may contact you to provide further evidence at a later date for fraud or audit purposes.

If you have not supplied documentation for 3 or more years since this was first provided then we may request current proof. If this is the case it will show 'expired' next to the document type or proof being requested.

Accepted document formats PDF, JPG, JPEG, BMP

Virtual visitor parking permits

You can apply for the virtual visitor parking permits in your NSL Apply permit account.

Please refer to the NSL Apply Parking Permit Guide under the related content section to find out how to do the following:

• Activate a Virtual Visitor Permit
• Cancel a Virtual Visitor Permit
• Swap/Edit a Vehicle on a Virtual Visitor Permit
• Add a ‘Favourite Vehicle’

You can also Watch our video to find out how to use the virtual visitor permits.

It is important that you input the correct vehicle registration mark and select the correct date and time that the vehicle needs cover for.

Once the virtual permit has been activated it is valid for 24 hours from the date and time selected. For example, if a permit is activated on 20 April 2025 at 5.18 pm it will be valid until 21 April 2025 at 5.17 pm.

It is advised that you select the confirmation email option to validate that your virtual parking permit is active or alternatively you could refresh the permit account home page to see if the permit has been activated in the manage permits section. In doing so, this will prevent you from ordering duplicate permits.

Emails from NSL Apply should appear in your inbox and are sent from Barnet.Permits@nsl.co.uk, please check your spam and junk folders before contacting us.

If you require any assistance with activating, amending or cancelling a virtual visitors parking permit please contact the parking permit team and they can activate a virtual visitor permit or make the requested changes on your behalf. It is important that requests are made in advance to ensure that the team are able to activate or make the necessary changes to the virtual visitor permit in time. Please be advised that only future booked virtual visitor permits can be cancelled and the credit returned to the account. If a virtual visitor permit has been activated on a given date it cannot be cancelled and the credit cannot be returned to the account.

Apply for Virtual Visitor Permits

Printed scratch card visitor parking permits (vouchers)

You cannot apply for the printed scratch card visitor permits in your NSL Apply permit account.

You can only apply for the printed scratch card visitor permits by contacting the Parking Permit Team.

This is because our printing services are limited, and this service is being prioritised for those who are not able to use virtual visitor permits.

You should allow at least 5 working days for your printed permits to arrive once you have completed your order.  The permits are posted via the Royal Mail recorded delivery service, which means that someone must be at home to sign for them. 

We will not replace permits which are lost in the post but can assist customers in locating orders by providing the Royal Mail tracking information.  If you live in a block of flats or have any difficulty receiving deliveries, we recommend that you purchase virtual visitor permits.

Changes to your parking permit or account details

If you need to:

• Update your contact details
• Update your address details

Then please visit the following page Changes to your parking permit or account details | Barnet Council for more information.

Prices

Virtual visitor parking permits are £2.50 each, minimum order is 3.

Printed scratch card visitors parking permits are available in books of 4 and cost £3.00 each (1 book is £12.00), minimum order is 12 vouchers (3 books of 4).

Please be advised that the NSL Apply parking permit system may send a request to authenticate your payment, for example via your banking app. Therefore, it is important that this authentication is completed to ensure that you successfully complete the purchase of your parking permit.

Payment Methods

Pay Now

If this payment method is selected at the point of a new parking permit application. A pop up window will appear prompting you to manually enter the card payment details and submit the payment at that point. For any future changes of vehicle on that given parking permit application where a surcharge is automatically generated. This amount will automatically be debited from the card used for the initial payment. You will not receive any pre-notification of this by email.

Online After Approval

If this payment method is selected at the point of a new parking permit application. You will not be prompted to enter any card payment details. Instead, after submitting the parking permit application, you will receive an email to notify you that the application (once approved) is ‘waiting for payment’. You will then be prompted to log into your NSL Apply Parking Permit account to make a payment to activate the permit.

Use Registered Card

You can register a payment card in the ‘manage account’ section of your NSL Apply Parking Permit account. If this payment method is selected at the point of a new permit application, this means that the payment will be taken from the registered card (providing the card has sufficient funds and has not expired). For any future changes of vehicle on that given parking permit application where a surcharge is automatically generated. This amount will automatically be debited from the registered card. You will not receive any pre-notification of this by email.

Contact us

You can reach our Parking Permit Team by:

Email: parking.permits@barnet.gov.uk 

Telephone: 0208 359 7446 (Monday to Thursday 9 am to 5.15 pm and Friday 9 am to 5 pm)

Terms and conditions of use

1. Visitor vouchers are available for use only by visitors to residents in a controlled parking zone.
2. a virtual visitor voucher must be activated, or if issued as a paper voucher, displayed if a visitor parks in a "Permit Holders Only" parking place or a 'Resident Permit Holders Only' parking place during the controlled hours, making sure that the same zone identifier letter(s) displayed on the paper voucher or in the virtual visitor permit account appears on the sign.
3. visitor vouchers are not valid in paid parking spaces, car parks or on yellow lines. They can only be used in shared use spaces where the signs include the wording in condition 2.
4. visitor vouchers are only valid if completed and displayed as described on the front of the voucher where issued as a printed voucher. Where issued as a virtual voucher, they can only be used on the date for which it is validated.
5. It’s prohibited to use a vehicle in a parking place in connection with the sale or offering or exposing for sale of goods.
6. visitor vouchers can only be used once the month, day and date have been scratched off when issued a paper voucher. Alterations made to details will invalidate the voucher, for example, if more than one month, day or date is scratched off, this will invalidate the voucher
7. the issue of visitor vouchers does not guarantee the availability of a parking space nor does it render the Council subject to any liability in respect of loss or damage to any vehicle in a parking place or the contents or fittings of any such vehicle
8. failure to correctly display a voucher where issued as a paper voucher, or activate a virtual voucher, may result in a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) being issued to the vehicle
9. parking places may be suspended by any person duly authorised by the Council or the police – don’t park in a parking place where signs indicate it’s suspended
10. A maximum of 200 vouchers can be purchased per household within 12 months.  The limit of 200 vouchers applies across both virtual and paper scratch card vouchers and is an absolute maximum.
11. A goods vehicle with an overall height greater than 2.3 metres may not make use of a parking place during controlled hours.
12. the Council is unable to give refunds for unused vouchers