Nine park car parks got charges on 27 April, and the free 3 or 4 hours only counts if you register it on RingGo. Full tariffs, permits and Sunday traps.

Slough’s parking changed twice this year. Nine park and leisure car parks that used to be free now charge, and pay machines are being pulled out across the borough in favour of RingGo. Both changes create the same trap: a free stay is only free if you register it, and a car park with no machine has no way to tell you that.

Everything below was checked on 1 September 2026 against the council’s own car park records and parking pages, linked beside each figure.

The change that catches people: free stays now need registering

Charges came in at nine parks and leisure car parks on 27 April 2026, after a consultation that ran from 12 September to 3 October (Slough Borough Council, 16 April 2026). Each site keeps an initial free period, but the council is explicit that you have to activate it:

“Residents will need to activate their free parking session through RingGo via the app, or over the phone, using the car park location code.”

Consultation feedback lengthened four of the free periods. Salt Hill Park and Slough Ice Arena went from three hours to four. Upton Court Park and Lascelles Park went from two hours to three. There is also a no return within two hours rule across the scheme.

Councillor Paul Kelly, lead member for planning, parking, highways and transport, said the aim was “to put a stop to those taking advantage of our car parks for free commuter or business parking”, and that any income goes back into the parking service.

Park and leisure car parks

Car park Free period 3 to 5 hours 5 to 10 hours 10 to 24 hours
The Centre, Farnham Road SL1 4UT 3 hours £5 £10 £20
Langley Leisure Centre, Parlaunt Road SL3 8BD 3 hours £5 £10 £20
Lascelles Park, Lascelles Road SL1 2FA 3 hours £5 £10 £20
Upton Court Park, Upton Court Road SL3 7LU 3 hours £5 £10 £20
Salt Hill Park, Bath Road SL1 3SS 4 hours £5 from 4 hours £10 from 6 hours £20
Slough Ice Arena, Montem Lane SL1 2QG 4 hours £5 from 4 hours £10 from 6 hours £20

The other three sites in the scheme are listed by the council as free with a two hour maximum stay, and it publishes no paid tariff for them: Cippenham Recreation Ground (Station Road SL1 6JJ, 18 spaces), Harvey Park (Tamar Way, Langley SL3 8TA, 37 spaces) and Manor Park (Staunton Road SL1 1NP, 24 spaces).

Town centre car parks and their tariffs

Car park Postcode Spaces 1 hour 2 hours 4 hours 5 hours plus
Buckingham Gardens SL1 1XS 47 + 6 disabled £1.80 £3.00 £5.40 £6.60
Burlington, Burlington Road SL1 1EL 57 + 4 disabled £1.80 £3.00 £5.40 £6.60
The Grove SL1 1QP 40 + 3 disabled £1.80 £3.00 £5.40 £6.60
Herschel, Herschel Street SL1 1XS 448 + 8 disabled £2.40 £3.60 £6.00 £7.20

Buckingham Gardens, Burlington and The Grove all charge £4.80 overnight, 9pm to 7.30am. Herschel is £4.80 from 9pm to 7am.

Herschel is the one to understand before you use it. It is the borough’s only multi-storey and the only pay-on-exit site, running on number plate recognition. It closes from 10pm to 7am, and the council warns that any vehicle left after 9.30pm risks being locked in until 7am. It has 10 levels, a 1.90 metre height limit, and 14 dual 7kW charging points: two from BP Pulse on level 8 by the lift stairwell, and 12 from PodPoint on the lower ground level, with no time limit.

Two car parks sit outside the town centre and price very differently.

Harrow Market, Station Road, Langley SL3 8HZ, is the cheapest in the borough and the only one with a half-hour rate. Charges apply Monday to Saturday, 7.30am to 8pm.

30 minutes 1 hour 2 hours 3 hours 4 hours 5 hours plus
60p £1.20 £1.90 £3.00 £3.35 £6.00

Burnham Lane, 12 Station Road, Burnham SL1 6JJ, is priced as a commuter car park with no hourly ladder at all:

  • Peak, Monday to Friday 6am to 7pm: £8.40
  • Off peak, Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm: £3.60
  • Overnight, Monday to Friday 7pm to 6am: £3.30
  • Weekends and bank holidays, all day: £4.80

Free car parks

Two council car parks are free outright, both with no time limit published:

  • Elmshott Lane, Bath Road, Cippenham SL1 6AA. 21 spaces plus 3 disabled, two hour maximum stay, no height restriction.
  • Vicarage Way, Colnbrook SL3 0RJ. 40 spaces plus 2 disabled, 1.98 metre height limit.

The traps

Sundays and bank holidays are not free in the car parks. Buckingham Gardens states it plainly: “The same rate applies for Sundays and Bank Holidays.” Burlington carries the same line. This is the opposite of the on-street rules, which is where the confusion starts.

Some on-street bays become permit-only when the charges stop, not free. Paid hours on-street are generally Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm. What happens outside those hours depends on the street, and the council spells it out on four of them:

  • Osborne Street: “At all other times, residents parking only.”
  • Park Street: “At all other times and on Sundays permit holders only.”
  • Albert Street: “At all other times including Sundays, permit holders only.”
  • St Laurence Way: “At all other times and Sundays, permit holders only.”
  • Wexham Road: a resident parking restriction applies outside the paid hours.

Elsewhere, including Bishops Road, High Street East and High Street West, the council publishes paid hours with no such restriction attached, so those bays do come free in the evening and on Sunday. Read the plate.

Chalvey Park runs on different hours from everywhere else. Its charging window is 8am to 6pm, not 9am to 5pm, with a three hour maximum stay and no return within three hours.

Sandringham Court is Monday to Friday only, so Saturday is free there while the rest of the town centre is paying.

On-street tariffs

The council prices on-street bays in four bands. The first hour is the same everywhere, and the bands differ in how long you are allowed to stay.

30 mins 1 hour 2 hours 3 hours 4 hours plus
Band A £1.20 £2.40 not sold not sold not sold
Band B £1.20 £2.40 £3.60 £4.80 not sold
Band C £1.20 £2.40 £3.60 £4.80 not sold
Band D £1.20 £2.40 £3.60 £4.80 £7.20
  • Band A, one hour maximum, no return within one hour: Bishops Road, High Street East, High Street West, Osborne Street, The Grove.
  • Band B, three hour maximum: Chalvey Park, Hatfield Road, Park Street, Wexham Road, Windsor Road.
  • Band C: Albert Street, St Laurence Way.
  • Band D, the only band that sells more than three hours: Sandringham Court, Waterside Drive.

Paying: the machines are going

Pay and display machines are being removed across Slough, and the council’s position is that drivers “will need to use a cashless payment option” (cashless parking).

  • RingGo, by app or by phoning 0203 046 0010. You need your registration, the location code from the sign, and how long you want to stay.
  • PayPoint terminals in local shops, if you would rather pay with cash or card. You need the same car park code and your registration. The council publishes the nearest PayPoint, its postcode and the walking time for every zone, and most are within a five-minute walk. Text “Shop RingGo” and the five-digit location code to 81025 to find yours.

Location codes for the car parks are 5121 Burnham Lane, 5126 Buckingham Gardens, 5127 Burlington, 5128 The Grove, 5129 Harrow Market, 85152 The Centre, 85153 Slough Ice Arena, 85154 Langley Leisure Centre, 85155 Salt Hill Park, 85156 Upton Court Park and 85157 Lascelles Park.

Blue badge

Blue Badge holders park free all day in Slough’s council car parks and on-street pay bays. The council repeats that line on every charged car park record and every on-street record it publishes, including Herschel and all nine of the newly charged park and leisure sites. The two free car parks, Elmshott Lane and Vicarage Way, list no concession, which makes no difference because nobody pays there.

If you hold a badge, have no driveway or garage and either drive or live with the driver, you can apply for a disabled parking bay outside your home, free of charge. The bay is not reserved for you. Any Blue Badge holder may use it without a time limit, and the council cannot act against another disabled driver who parks there. If a car with no badge displayed uses it, report it to the control room on 01753 551018 (disabled parking bay).

Permits

Everything now runs through the PermitSmarti system, and a virtual permit is issued once approved, usually within 24 hours. Existing paper permits and scratchcards stay valid until they expire (parking permits and how to apply).

Resident permits, 12 months, in a resident parking zone:

First permit Second permit Third permit
£50 £125 £250

A permit lets you park in permit bays and shared permit-and-pay bays within your own zone only. It does not guarantee a space, and it does not let you use pay and display bays during their charging hours, loading bays, motorcycle or disabled bays, yellow lines or suspended bays. Residents of new or existing developments with limited or no parking provision are not eligible.

Visitor permits are sold in blocks of five, capped at 720 hours per household per year. Adults over 60 get 50% off with proof of age.

Block Cost
5 x 3 hours £6.30
5 x 6 hours £11.60
5 x 12 hours £16.80
5 x 24 hours £28.40

Vouchers are activated by you or your visitor, nothing is displayed in the car, and an enforcement officer checks the registration on a handheld device.

Other permits: business £350 a year, one per property. Carer £27.50 a year, one per property. Dispensations for utility or road works are £12 a day or £42 a week. All permits are non-refundable and non-exchangeable.

A borough-wide Controlled Parking Zone plan was approved in February 2023 and is being rolled out area by area, each with its own consultation, so the zone list will keep growing.

Station parking

Slough station’s car parks are run by APCOA, not the council, so the council’s Blue Badge concession does not apply there and the tariffs are set separately. There are four, all open 24 hours (APCOA, parking in Slough):

Car park Spaces Disabled bays Tariff from
Slough Station East 287 8 £6.90
Slough Station West 170 not listed £6.50
Slough Station North 54 8 £6.90
Slough Station West Approach 31 not listed £6.90

Those are opening prices, not day rates, and APCOA does not publish the full ladder on its Slough index. Check the individual car park page for the length of stay you want before you travel.

Fines

Penalty Charge Notices are paid online through the council’s ParkingUK system, or on the automated line 0330 088 3644. The council warns that it does not contact drivers by text about PCNs, after reports of scam messages (how to pay a parking and bus lane fine).

More Slough local information