The borough car parks charge £4 up to three hours and £30 a minute later. Bingham and Keyworth give two free hours on a voucher, and on-street is £6 all day.
Two councils charge for parking in West Bridgford town centre, and they charge on different rules. Rushcliffe Borough Council runs the car parks. Nottinghamshire County Council runs the on-street bays. Get the two the wrong way round and the mistake is expensive.
The single most costly error in the town is staying three hours and one minute in a borough car park. Up to three hours is £4.00. Over three hours is £30.00.
Rushcliffe car parks in West Bridgford
Three car parks, 276 spaces between them, all pay and display.
| Car park | Spaces | Blue badge bays | Max stay | RingGo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgford Road, NG2 6AP | 153 | 12 | 24 hours | 22050 |
| Nursery, Albert Road, NG2 5GS | 87 | 8 | 24 hours | 22051 |
| Gordon Road, NG2 5LL | 36 | 2 | 24 hours | 22052 |
All three take cash, card, contactless, Apple Pay, Google Pay and RingGo. All three have a 2 metre height limit and a 2,500kg weight limit, and none has a height barrier. The no-return period is three hours. Motorcycles park free for two hours in a motorcycle bay at Bridgford Road.
| Stay | Charge |
|---|---|
| Up to 30 minutes | £0.70 |
| Up to 1 hour | £1.20 |
| Up to 1.5 hours | £2.00 |
| Up to 2 hours | £2.80 |
| Up to 2.5 hours | £3.50 |
| Up to 3 hours | £4.00 |
| Over 3 hours | £30.00 |
| 8pm to 7am, any length of stay | Free |
The £30 is a deliberate deterrent to all-day commuter parking, not a penalty charge, and it is not a typo. If you need longer than three hours, the on-street long-stay bays cost £6.00.
These are the only Rushcliffe car parks that charge on bank holidays. West Bridgford and Rushcliffe Country Park are monitored “Monday to Sunday, including Bank Holidays”. Every other borough car park, in Bingham, Keyworth, Cotgrave, Gamston and Radcliffe on Trent, is monitored “Monday to Sunday, except Bank Holidays”. (Rushcliffe Borough Council)
Parking overnight and leaving before 7am costs nothing. If you will still be there after 7am, buy a pre-paid ticket at the machine and the time starts at 7am.
On-street bays: eleven streets, and you need a ticket even when it is free
On-street charges started on Monday 31 March 2025 and run 8am to 8pm every day. They are set by the county council, not the borough.
- Short stay, three-hour maximum: Albert Road, Florence Road, Gordon Road, Gordon Square, Rectory Road north and south, Priory Road, Church Drive, Davies Road.
- Long stay, no daily limit: Bridgford Road, Fox Road, Hound Road.
| Stay | Short stay | Long stay |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 30 minutes | Free | Free |
| Up to 1 hour | £1.50 | £1.50 |
| Up to 2 hours | £2.50 | £2.50 |
| Up to 3 hours | £3.50 | £3.50 |
| Up to 4 hours | — | £4.50 |
| Over 4 hours | — | £6.00 |
The free half hour still needs a ticket. The county council says so twice on its own page. No ticket, and a penalty notice may follow. (Nottinghamshire County Council)
Machines take cash, card and contactless, and there is a phone option.
Compare the two tables and the rule is simple. Under an hour, the borough car parks are cheaper. Over three hours, the long-stay bays on Bridgford Road, Fox Road and Hound Road are the only sensible choice at £6.00 against £30.00.
One caveat on those on-street figures. The county council still publishes them on a page written in the future tense, left over from the 2024 consultation, and has not dated a review since the charges began. Check the machine.
Where parking is genuinely free
Free parking has not disappeared from the borough. It has moved out of the town centre.
| Car park | Spaces | Max stay | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gamston Community Centre, NG2 6PS | 62 | 12 hours | Free long stay. 4 blue badge bays, 4 rapid EV chargers, motorcycle bays |
| Walkers Yard, Radcliffe on Trent, NG12 2FF | 43 | 12 hours long stay | Free. 15 short-stay and 28 long-stay spaces, 4 fast EV chargers |
| Health Centre, Radcliffe on Trent, NG12 2GD | 54 | 3 hours | Free. 15-minute drop-off zone, 2 rapid EV chargers |
| Church Drive, Keyworth, NG12 5FG | 29 | 12 hours | Free long stay, 8 EV spaces |
| Cotgrave Shopping Precinct, NG12 3US | 33 | 12 hours | Free long stay, 2 rapid EV chargers |
| Cotgrave Hub, Candleby Lane, NG12 3US | 44 | 12 hours | Free long stay, 6 parent and child spaces |
| Cotgrave Multi-Service Centre, Rivermead, NG12 3UQ | 35 | 12 hours | Free long stay |
Gamston Community Centre is the one that matters most to West Bridgford. It is free, it takes 12 hours, and it holds 62 cars.
The two free hours the fees page does not mention
This is the trap worth knowing, and it runs the other way from most.
Rushcliffe’s fees and charges page lists Bingham as starting at £1.00 for up to three hours and Keyworth at £1.00 for the third hour. Read only that page and you would assume you pay from the moment you arrive.
You do not. Both car parks give two hours free on a voucher, and the fees page omits the line entirely.
- Bingham, Needham Street and Newgate Street: up to 2 hours free with a voucher from the machine or a virtual voucher on RingGo. Then £1.00 to 3 hours, £5.00 to 4 hours, £10.00 over 4 hours. Charges apply 8am to 6pm, excluding bank holidays. Free 6pm to 8am.
- Keyworth, Bunny Lane: up to 2 hours free with a voucher from the ticket machine. Then £1.00 to 3 hours, £20.00 for a 12-hour long stay. Cash or RingGo only, no card.
(Bingham car parks, Keyworth car parks)
The voucher is the catch. It is free, but the ticket must be displayed, and “have you displayed your free voucher?” is the first item on the council’s own list of things to check before you walk away.
Two more local traps in the same borough:
- Bingham Market Place is free, but the maximum stay is 30 minutes, and on Thursday market days it is permit-only until 10am.
- Rushcliffe Country Park, NG11 6JS charges £1.50 up to three hours and £3.00 over, and it is one of the two car parks monitored on bank holidays. An annual permit is £55.00, valid across several vehicles registered at one address, and it does not guarantee a space on event days.
Blue badge
The county and the borough answer this differently, and both answers matter.
On-street, the county council says Blue Badge holders “would continue to be able to park without charge” in the West Bridgford pay and display bays.
In the borough car parks, the council says a badge holder “can use any space within the car park providing they display their badge and correctly set the time clock”. Its per-car-park tables then attach a free period only to the marked badge bays: two hours in West Bridgford and Bingham, three hours at Keyworth’s Bunny Lane and at Rushcliffe Country Park.
The council does not reconcile the two, and it tells badge holders to buy the extra time in advance if they intend to stay past the free period. Assume the free period is what the tables say and pay beyond it. (Blue Badge parking)
Apply for or renew a badge at gov.uk.
Permits
The borough council issues only one permit, for the country park. Everything else is the county’s.
- Rushcliffe Country Park annual permit: £55.00. Apply online, up to 21 days ahead, returned in about 10 working days.
- Residents’ or visitors’ permit: £43.00 a year each, from Nottinghamshire County Council. Free if you are 75 or over, or a Blue Badge holder. A household with a resident aged 75 or over, or a badge holder, can also have a free visitor permit.
- Each adult resident is entitled to one permit. There are 30 residents’ schemes in the county covering 474 streets.
- Trade dispensations for short-term work parking, up to 14 days, come from the county: nccparkingmanager@nottscc.gov.uk, 0115 8040410.
On Fox Road and Hound Road, where the long-stay bays sit directly outside houses, residents can buy a permit that exempts them from the charge. (Residents’ parking schemes)
Fines
Rushcliffe’s car park penalties run on two levels, and the county processes both challenges and payments.
- Lower level, £50, reduced to £25 if paid within 14 days. Overstaying, or parking outside the bay.
- Higher level, £70, reduced to £35 within 14 days. Causing an obstruction, or exceeding the height restriction.
- Pay within 28 days to avoid further action.
An enforcement officer cannot cancel a ticket once issued. Challenges go in writing to the Central Processing Centre, PO Box 10282, Nottingham NG17 0DX, or online.
Match days and the station
The City Ground and Trent Bridge sit together at the north end of the town, next to both river crossings, and a Forest fixture or an international fills every approach road. Nottingham City Council’s advice on a busy August fixture was to use public transport.
Nottingham Forest directs stadium tour visitors, as opposed to matchday crowds, to free parking in the Brian Clough Car Park off Lady Bay Bridge Road, NG2 5FA. Lady Bay Bridge and Scarrington Road are subject to a season-long closure order around City Ground events; the dates are on our roadworks page.
There is no railway station in West Bridgford and no park and ride site. The nearest NET park and ride is Clifton South, at the far end of the tram line that serves the town, so for most addresses the tram stop at Compton Acres, Ruddington Lane, Wilford Lane or Wilford Village is closer than any park and ride. Times and fares are on our trains and travel page.
Also useful
- West Bridgford bin days: the bank holiday moves and what goes in each bin.
- West Bridgford council tax bands: the full A to H table for all 58 parishes.
- Roadworks and travel: closures and orders currently in force.
Sources
- Rushcliffe Borough Council: car parks and the per-town pages for West Bridgford, Bingham, Keyworth, Cotgrave, Gamston, Radcliffe on Trent and Rushcliffe Country Park; car parking fees and charges; penalty charges; parking permits; Blue Badge parking.
- Nottinghamshire County Council: West Bridgford on-street parking review and residents’ parking schemes.
Checked 24 August 2026. Read the tariff board before you assume a price.
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