Driving & Parking FAQ

This map (PDF) shows the car parks at the Canterbury Campus, your vehicle must park in a marked bay in a car park at all times and Monday to Friday between 8am and 5pm you must have a permit to park and be parked in a car park you permit is valid for. Staff, Students and Associate must not park in the Central Visitor and Sports Centre P&D car parks during this time.

This map (PDF) shows the car parks at the Medway Campus, your vehicle must park within the designated parking area all times see signs in car park for information,  and Monday to Friday between 8am and 5pm you must have a permit to park and be parked in a car park you permit is valid for.

Students living outside the parking exclusion zone can apply for an Academic Year, 3 month or 1 month permit, as either a full permit or a daily voucher permit. If you have a daily voucher permit you will need to log onto your permit account and purchase a daily parking voucher prior to parking your vehicle on campus. These permits are valid for Blue Zone car park(s).

Students living within the parking exclusion zone are not normally eligible for a permit. If there are medical reasons or exceptional circumstances that mean you are unable to use public transport you can appeal for a permit to park on campus.

Staff permits are available for all University of Kent/ Kent Union staff paid via the University of Kent payroll. Staff can apply for an 12, 3 or 1 month permit, as either a full permit or a daily voucher permit. If you have a daily voucher permit you will need to log onto your permit account and purchase a daily parking voucher prior to parking your vehicle on campus. These permits are valid for Pink and Blue Zone car park(s).

Any visitor to Canterbury Campus who has not been issued with a pre-arranged parking permit should use the Pay and Display Car Parks. There are 5 visitor P&D car parks on Canterbury campus. See Canterbury car park map(PDF) for locations of Pay & Display car parks. Each of these car parks has a P&D machine that accepts contactless cards, coin payments and pay by phone using PaySmarti. 

Visitors to Medway Campus, who have not been issued with a pre-arranged parking permit may be able to park at the Historic Dockyard in their pay to park car parks.

All Associates permits are allocated in accordance with the agreement and permissions that have been given for the reason that they are recognised as an Associate. The member of staff representing their reasons for being on campus will need to complete the Associate Verification Form which must be uploaded during the permit application.

Associates can apply for an 12, 3 or 1 month permit, as either a full permit or a daily voucher permit. If you have a daily voucher permit you will need to log onto your permit account and purchase a daily parking voucher prior to parking your vehicle on campus. These permits are valid for Pink and Blue zone car parks.

Daily Voucher permits allow the permit holder to purchase a permit at a lower price than a full permit, these permits to park can be issued for the duration of 12 months, 3 months, or 1 month. On the days that parking is required the permit holders purchases a virtual daily parking voucher. 

If you do not regularly park on campus during the hours a permit is required (Monday – Friday 8am – 5pm) you may wish to consider this option 

There is very restricted parking at the Canterbury and Medway campuses. If you live in the exclusion zone (see postcodes below, the Canterbury exclusion zone map, or Medway exclusion zones table), which includes the student residences on campus, you are not eligible for a student permit, you may be able to appeal for either a Health Access or Exceptional Circumstance permit if you meet the criteria.

Canterbury exclusion zones: 

• CT1 1**
• CT1 2**
• CT1 3**
• CT2 7**
• CT2 8**

Medway exclusion zones: 

• ME1 1**
• ME4 3**
• ME4 4**
• ME4 5**
• ME4 6**
• ME7 1**
• ME7 2**
• ME7 4**
• ME7 5**

To apply for an associate permit please visit our Associate Parking page.

Please note: Associates do not log on via the SSO permit system.

Visit our Driving and Parking pages and select the link for the permit type (Staff, Student, or Associate) that applies to you.  

Apply for Daily Voucher Permit

• Log onto the permit system and select “Permit application. Apply for a permit”
• Select permit category “ Daily Voucher”
• Complete application and make online payment for permit
• Receive email confirming your virtual permit has been issued and is now active for the zones stated in the email

When you require parking

• Log onto your permit account
•  Select the P button
• Follow the instructions to purchase a daily voucher for the day you are parking

Visit our Driving and Parking pages and select the link for the permit type (Staff, Student or Associate) that applies to you.

• Log onto the permit system and check the box to confirm that you have read and accept the terms and conditions and click ‘Sign into my account’
• Select Permit application, apply for a permit
• Select which permit category you are applying for
• Select Permit Type - length of time you require permit
• Select the parking zone your permit will be valid for
• Select the date you require your permit to start
• Applicant details - add your daytime contact number and ensure all other personal details are completed correctly
• State number of vehicles - staff can have up to 5 but only 1 can be activated. Provide vehicle details
• Answer additional questions
• Click 'Next', review answers if correct agree to accept terms and conditions
• Click on the 'Proceed' button.

Students living within the parking exclusion zone are not normally eligible for a permit. If there are medical reasons or exceptional circumstances that mean you are unable to use public transport you can appeal for a permit to park on campus.

Visit our Appealing for a Permit page and follow the steps to apply for a student Health Access or Exceptional Circumstances permit. 

You can collect your Park Wood Park & Ride bus pass from the Security and Transport Centre. The bus pass is valid for parking permit holders and allows travel between Park Wood and central campus for free. There are also signs in Park Wood which give the walking times back to central campus.

The bus pass is valid for Canterbury parking permit holders and allows travel on the Unibuses between Park Wood and central campus for free, you can collect your Park Wood Park & Ride bus pass from the Security and Transport Centre. Please note you these are not valid for travel off campus.

There are also signs in Park Wood which give the walking times back to central campus.

KMMS members of staff whose salary is paid by University Of Kent and are commuting to and from Kent campus by car are required to pay for a staff parking permit.

KMMS members of staff whose salary is paid by CCCU that require parking at Kent campus for business reasons are eligible to apply for an Associate parking permit

KMMS staff who have commuted from home to CCCU campus and require parking at Kent as they are visiting Kent campus for business reasons:

If sustainable transport is not an option and parking is required for business travel (to travel from CCCU to the Kent campus for business reasons) then KMMS staff must contact the KMMS School Administrator to arrange parking for business travel reasons.

If you are unable to contact the KMMs School Administrator and are not registered on the staff or associate parking permit system, you must park within the visitor car parks and purchase a pay & display a ticket. Refer to claiming expenses policy in regards to claiming business expenses.

Canterbury campus- If the car parks on central campus are full, parking should still be available in other car parks such as Park Wood Courts, Pavilion and Oaks car parks. Please note that Park Wood Courts incudes the parking bays outside the student residences.

If you are parking in Park Wood Courts, you may Park & Ride using the bus pass, which can be collected from the Security and Transport Centre, to travel between Park Wood and central campus for free. There are also signs in Park Wood which give the walking times back to central campus.

Medway campus- If the Pembroke campus car parks are full, parking should still be available in the Mast Pond car park on the Dockyard campus. It takes approximately approximately 10 minutes to walk back to the Pembroke campus.

There are currently no electric charging points on campus for personal vehicles. To find the nearest charging point to the campus visit www.zap-map.com

AutoTrader Electric Car Charging Points Map is a useful web page for planning long-distance EV journeys. Using the postcode finder you can easily find the nearest charging point and know how much it will cost to charge.

The University is not able to just create new parking bays or car parks, the number of parking bays we have is determined by the local authority.

The University’s aim is not to reduce the number of parking bays on campus but to retain the number of parking bays as part of the new Masterplan Framework for Canterbury, and within the supporting Travel Plan and the new university parking strategy.

Visit the Arrivals Guide for information on student registration.