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Parking a removal van in Edinburgh

How close the van can stop decides how long your move takes, and in much of Edinburgh stopping is controlled. Here are the four things that usually settle it, from the council's own pages, with what each needs from you.

First, find out what kind of street you are on

The council runs a controlled parking zone across the city centre and the streets around it. Inside it you need to pay and display, or hold a valid permit, to park on the street during controlled hours. Further out are priority parking areas, where only the permit holders' places are marked and the rest of the kerb has no extra controls.

The zones come in groups: central zones 1 to 4, peripheral zones 5 to 8, extended zones N1 to N8 and S1 to S7, and priority parking areas B1 to B10. The council's permit address search tells you which one your address is in. Do it for both ends of the move. The hours of control are on the signs at the entry to each zone, and they differ between central and outer zones.

Visitor permits, if you live in a zone

If you are a resident of one of those zones, you can buy visitors' parking permits in books of ten. Each permit gives ninety minutes. You scratch off the date and time boxes and display it where it can be read from outside, and a longer stay needs more permits, each scratched the same way. In a priority parking area, one permit covers the whole controlled period.

A visitor permit lets the van use a permit holders' or shared-use place in your zone. It does not work in mews, and it does not guarantee there will be a space. For a move that is the catch: on a busy street, by the time the van arrives, the nearest free bay may be round the corner. Moving out of a flat? Buy the permits before you hand back the keys.

Loading on a single yellow line: a dispensation

If the best place for the van is a single yellow line and the job will take longer than thirty minutes, the council can give a dispensation. Its own examples include furniture and home removals.

• There is an admin charge of £16 for each request, per vehicle and per location, paid by card.
• Give at least twenty-four hours' notice, and pay by three in the afternoon on the last working day before.
• The form asks for the address, the start and end times, a company name and the van's registration.

Ask your driver for the registration as soon as they get in touch. A move with two addresses on yellow lines needs a request for each.

Keeping a space free: a bay suspension

A suspension reserves pay and display, permit or shared-use bays for you. The council puts up a board beside the bays showing the date, time and extent, so other drivers know not to park there.

• It is charged at the public parking rate for that street, with no lower rate for permit bays.
• Resident permit spaces need three days' notice, not counting weekends. Public bays need two.
• The suspensions team works Monday to Friday, from eight in the morning to three in the afternoon.

The same page also says the council must give at least three working days' notice of a suspension, so in practice apply a week ahead if you can. A suspension only applies during the bay's own controlled hours, which is worth checking for an early start.

Yellow lines, kerb marks and the plate on the pole

Loading rules are shown on signs and by marks on the kerb, and the plate on the nearest pole gives the hours. Read it for both addresses a few days before. Some city-centre streets have no stopping at all at certain times, or no loading at the morning and evening peaks.

One recent booking into a second-floor flat in the centre had exactly that, and the customer typed the street's no-stopping and no-loading hours into the notes. The driver knew before setting off when the van could be at the door. If you do one thing from this page, do that.

Who arranges it, and who pays

You know your street, so it is usually quickest for you to arrange the permits or the dispensation and tell your driver what you have done. Parking charges are paid on top of your price. If you are not sure which of the four options fits, email the address of the property to [email protected] and we will tell you what we would do.