SOSTA

Parking Parking is the prolonged suspension of a vehicle's movement, allowing the driver to leave the vehicle. While parked, the driver must prevent the unauthorized use of the vehicle and take appropriate precautions to avoid accidents. It is not true that when parking during nighttime hours, the driver must always leave the sidelights on. When parking, the driver should turn off the engine, apply the parking brake, and engage the lowest gear; on steep roads, it is also advisable to leave the vehicle with the wheels steered towards the kerb. It is not true that the driver of a motor vehicle may leave the engine running if parking for a short time. Unless otherwise indicated, when parking in built-up areas, the driver must place the vehicle as close as possible to the right edge of the carriageway, parallel to it and in the direction of travel, provided there is a raised pavement. Where no pavement exists, a space of at least one metre must be left for pedestrian passage. On one-way urban roads, parking is also permitted along the left edge of the carriageway, provided that sufficient space (not less than three metres) remains for at least one lane of vehicles to pass. It is not true that parking motor vehicles or motorcycles in built-up areas is prohibited when designated parking bays are not present. Outside built-up areas, a driver who must park is required to place the vehicle, where possible, off the carriageway, but not on cycle lanes or hard shoulders, unless otherwise indicated. If it is impossible to place the vehicle off the carriageway, it must be parked as close as possible to the right edge of the carriageway. In designated parking areas, the driver must position the vehicle as prescribed by the signage, placing the vehicle within one of the specific spaces (bays) without encroaching on adjacent ones. In an area where parking is regulated by a parking meter, it must be used even for short stays; it should not be used for stopping only, for example, to let a passenger out. When parking in an area regulated by a parking meter, the corresponding ticket must be displayed clearly. To park in an area regulated by a parking disc, the arrival time (not the departure time) must be clearly displayed. It is not permitted to update the time without having moved the vehicle. In limited-time parking areas, vehicles serving disabled persons are not required to comply with the established time limit for parking. Parking is prohibited in all cases where stopping is prohibited, as well as: during the hours and days of validity of the prohibiting signs (in the presence of a "No Parking" sign in built-up areas from 8 am to 8 pm and on extra-urban roads 24 hours a day) always in the presence of a "No Stopping" sign at the exits of driveways if it prevents access or the movement of other parked vehicles double parking, except for two-wheeled vehicles (it is not true that this is permitted for a few minutes by activating the hazard warning lights) in spaces reserved for the parking and stopping of buses, trolleybuses, and rail vehicles within 15 metres of a bus, trolleybus, or rail vehicle stop sign, if the parking spaces are not delimited in spaces reserved for the parking of public hire vehicles and taxis in areas designated for markets and for vehicles loading and unloading goods, during the established hours on hard shoulders, unless otherwise indicated in spaces reserved for the stopping or parking of vehicles for disabled persons at ramps or connections between pavements and the carriageway used by vehicles for disabled persons in lanes or carriageways reserved for public transport (it is not true that this is permitted during certain time slots) in urban pedestrian areas in limited traffic zones for unauthorised vehicles in spaces designated for emergency or public hygiene services indicated by the appropriate signage limited to operating hours, at fuel stations and in their vicinity up to 5 metres before and after In none of these cases is it possible to park, even 'for a few minutes'. In cases where parking is expressly prohibited by a rule of the Highway Code, compliance with such prohibition is not conditional on the presence of signage. In built-up areas, the driver must not leave a trailer detached from the towing vehicle while parked, unless otherwise indicated. Failure to comply with the prescribed rules regarding parking prohibitions entails, in addition to a financial penalty, the loss of points from the driving licence. It is not true that it entails the suspension of the driving licence.