Robinson Pool gives three hours free on weekdays and five at weekends. Tariffs for all 14 council car parks, and the free hours the council leaves off its list.
Two council car parks in Bedford give you three hours free on a weekday and five hours free at the weekend, and the council’s own free parking page does not mention either of them. They are Robinson Pool (MK40 2JZ) and Foster Hill Road (MK41 7TB).
Bedford Borough Council runs 14 car parks. Charges are set per car park rather than by zone, so the difference between the cheapest and dearest is large. Three hours costs 60p at Queen Street and £5 at River Street, both in the town centre.
Everything below comes from the council’s own car park pages, read on 26 August 2026.
The free parking, in full
The council lists some of this and omits the rest. All of it is on its own pages:
- Two hours free every Saturday in the town centre multi-storey and surface car parks. This does not apply on-street.
- Free all day Sunday in most car parks. The exceptions are Prebend Street (£2 a visit) and Ashburnham Road (£3.10 a visit).
- Queen Street is free for the first two hours, Monday to Saturday. It is the only town centre car park where the free period runs on weekdays too.
- Robinson Pool: three hours free Monday to Friday, five hours free Saturday and Sunday. Foster Hill Road is the same.
- Free on-street after 6pm, Monday to Saturday, and all day Sunday.
- Motorcycles park free with no time limit, in any council car park or on-street pay-and-display bay.
- Blue Badge holders park free with no time limit in council car parks.
Two warnings attached to that. First, the council’s hub page lists Robinson Pool and Foster Hill Road among the car parks that are not free on a Sunday. Its own tariff pages for those two say five hours free at weekends, then £9.90. The tariff pages are more specific, but the contradiction is the council’s, and it is worth a look at the sign before you walk off.
Second, and this is the one that generates tickets: you still have to get a pay-and-display ticket even when the parking is free. The council says so explicitly, and says the free ticket is how it measures turnover.
Source: Bedford Borough Council, Council car parks.
The Castle Lane trap
On-street parking in Bedford is free after 6pm from Monday to Saturday. Except on Castle Lane, where it runs until 11pm.
That is a five-hour difference on one street, next to the Embankment and the riverside pubs, on exactly the evenings people park there. The council states it in a single clause on its car parks page and nowhere else.
The other on-street point to know: charges apply on bank holidays. On-street parking is chargeable 8am to 6pm Monday to Saturday “including Bank Holidays”, and free on Sundays.
Car park tariffs
The four multi-storey and long-stay car parks
| Car park | 1 hour | 2 hours | 3 hours | 4 hours | All day | Overnight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allhallows (MK40 1LX) | £1.60 | £2.40 | £3.70 | £4.90 | £8.90 over 5 hours | £2.50, 6pm to 8am |
| Lurke Street (MK40 3HZ) | £1.60 | £2.40 | £3.70 | £4.90 | £8.90 over 5 hours | £2.50, 6pm to 8am |
| River Street (MK40 1PX) | £1.90 | £2.70 | £5 | £6.20 | £9.90 over 4 hours | £4, 8pm to 6am |
| Queen Street (MK40 2HA) | Free up to 2 hours | £0.60 | £1.10 | £4.30 over 6 hours | Closed 10pm to 6am | |
Queen Street’s tariff is a different order of magnitude from the rest. Six hours there costs £2.90. Six hours at River Street costs £9.90.
The catch is the hours: Queen Street shuts at 10pm, while Allhallows, Lurke Street and River Street are open 24 hours. Its height restriction is 1.9 metres.
The surface car parks
| Car park | Monday to Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Peter's Street (MK40 2PR) | £1.50 for 1hr, £2.30 for 2hrs, £4 for 4hrs, £7.80 over 4hrs | 2 hours free, then £1.50 | Free |
| Riverside (MK40 1NY) | £1.90 for 1hr, £2.70 for 2hrs, £5 for 3hrs, £6.20 for 4hrs, £9.90 over 4hrs | 2 hours free, then £1.90 | Free |
| St Marys Gardens (MK42 9AP) | £1.90 for 1hr, £2.70 for 2hrs, £5 for 3hrs, £6.20 for 4hrs, £9.90 over 4hrs | 2 hours free, then £1.90 | Free |
| Melbourne Street (MK42 9AN) | £1.50 for 2hrs, £3.50 for 4hrs, £4.90 over 4hrs | Same as weekdays | Free |
| Prebend Street (MK42 9BX) | £2.30 for 2hrs, £5.20 for 4hrs, £6.90 over 4hrs, £1.30 after 5pm | Same as weekdays | £2 a visit |
| Ashburnham Road (MK40 1DW) | £9.90 all day, or £4.30 from 10am. Max stay 14 hours | £3.10 a visit | £3.10 a visit |
| Duckmill Lane (MK42 0AU) | £2.50 up to 2 hours | 2 hours free | Free |
| Greyfriars Street (MK40 1JD) | £2.50 up to 2 hours | 2 hours free | Free |
| Robinson Pool (MK40 2JZ) | 3 hours free, £1.40 for 4hrs, £2.70 for 5hrs, £9.90 over 5hrs | 5 hours free, then £9.90 | 5 hours free, then £9.90 |
| Foster Hill Road (MK41 7TB) | 3 hours free, £1.40 for 4hrs, £2.70 for 5hrs, £9.90 over 5hrs | 5 hours free, then £9.90 | 5 hours free, then £9.90 |
Sources: the council’s individual car park pages, linked from Council car parks.
Three practical notes:
- Lurke Street, St Peter’s Street and St Marys Gardens take cards only. No cash. The rest accept both.
- Melbourne Street takes commercial vehicles and motorhomes, 6.30am to 10.30pm, at £6.30. It is the only council car park that says so.
- Robinson Pool and Foster Hill Road charge £9.90 the moment you go over the free period. There is no middle tariff at the weekend. Five hours is free, five hours and one minute is £9.90.
- Those two only charge inside a window. Robinson Pool’s tariff runs 6am to 10pm, Foster Hill Road’s 8am to 6pm. Both car parks are open 24 hours, so outside those hours there is nothing to pay at either.
On-street charges
| Stay | Charge |
|---|---|
| Up to 30 minutes | £1 |
| Up to 1 hour | £1.70 |
| Up to 2 hours | £2.50 |
| Up to 3 hours | £4.80 |
| Up to 4 hours | £7.50 |
| Over 4 hours | £9.90 |
Source: Bedford Borough Council, On street parking charges.
On-street is dearer than the car parks at every length of stay past an hour. Two hours on the street costs £2.50; two hours at Allhallows costs £2.40 and at Queen Street it is free.
Coin machines take 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 and £2, and give no change. You can pay by app through PayByPhone using the location code on the sign.
One rule people get caught by: in a bay with a maximum stay, you cannot buy a second ticket to extend. The council states that outright.
The station: £12.90 a day, or £9.90 next door
Bedford Midland station’s car parks are run by APCOA, not the council, and they are on Ashburnham Road, MK40 1DS.
| Ticket | Bedford Station | Bedford Station Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Monday to Friday, daily | £12.90 | £13.30 |
| Evening, from 5pm Monday to Friday | £4.10 | £5.70 |
| Saturday and Sunday, daily | £4.10 | £4.70 |
| Weekly | £55.50 | £56.60 |
| Monthly | £206.60 | £198 |
| Annual | £1,844.40 | Not offered |
Source: APCOA, Bedford Station and Bedford Station Premium.
Note the monthly ticket. Premium is £8.60 a month cheaper than the standard car park, despite costing more per day.
APCOA adds a 15p convenience fee to every tariff, and all daily rates expire at 4am rather than midnight.
The council’s Ashburnham Road car park is on the same street and charges £9.90 for a weekday, £3 less than the station’s own. Its maximum stay is 14 hours, so it works for a day in London but not for leaving a car overnight.
APCOA has a live notice on the main station car park: it is partially closed from 10pm on Friday 28 August until 8am on Monday 31 August 2026, to hold rail replacement buses running between Bedford and St Neots.
Season tickets
| Car park | Annual | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Street | £704.05 | £59.45 |
| Queen Street | £862 | £72 |
| Prebend Street | £1,024.90 | £87.05 |
| St Peter's Street | £1,406.95 | £118.05 |
| Ashburnham Road | £1,661 | £158.65 |
| Allhallows | £1,875.50 | £157.25 |
| Lurke Street | £1,875.50 | £157.25 |
Source: Bedford Borough Council, Car park season tickets.
Ashburnham Road is the one to look at twice. Its annual ticket is £214.50 cheaper than Allhallows, but its monthly ticket is £1.40 dearer. Twelve monthly tickets there cost £1,903.80, which is £242.80 more than buying the year outright.
Season tickets start on the 1st of the month only, and can be backdated to the 1st of the current month. You can put up to three vehicles on one ticket, but only one is live at a time. Multi-storey holders get a barrier card.
Staff at HMP Bedford can buy an annual season ticket at Queen Street for £500.
Resident permits and the CPZ
Bedford’s Controlled Parking Zone covers ten lettered zones, A to N. Every permit is now virtual.
| Permit | Cost |
|---|---|
| First vehicle | £35.90 |
| Second vehicle | £105.65 |
| Third vehicle | £134.85 |
| Changing a permit | £7.25 |
The second permit costs nearly three times the first. Three permits is the household maximum.
Not everyone in the CPZ can have one. Residents are barred if they live in a development of flats or houses built or adapted after 1 April 2008, or in a dwelling created by converting a building after 12 August 2013. If your address does not appear in the online system, that is why.
Vehicles over 2.8 metres tall or 5.3 metres long do not qualify. Allow seven working days for processing.
Visitor hours, which vary wildly by zone
Residents in the CPZ get an annual allowance of free visitor parking hours, booked online against a visitor’s registration.
| Zone | Free visitor hours a year | When restrictions apply |
|---|---|---|
| A, B, C, D, E, G, M, N | 350 | 8am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday |
| J | 212 | 9.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday |
| K | 1,192 | 24 hours, 7 days a week |
Sources: Bedford Borough Council, Visitor parking and CPZ Controlled Parking Zones.
Zone K is the outlier and the one to understand if you live in it: restrictions run around the clock, seven days a week, so every visitor needs a booked session at any hour, including Sunday and the middle of the night. The 1,192-hour allowance reflects that. Zone J is the opposite, with no restrictions at all on Saturdays or Sundays.
You only need to book visitor hours while restrictions are running. A visitor arriving Friday afternoon and leaving Monday morning in zone A needs three separate sessions, not one, because Saturday evening and all of Sunday are free.
Extra hours can be bought through the same account when the free allowance runs out.
Blue Badge parking
Blue Badge holders park free, with no time limit, in every Bedford Borough Council car park, in pay-and-display bays and in disabled bays. The badge has to be displayed, and a parking clock set to your arrival time is needed wherever a bay has a time limit.
On-street, badge holders park free and without time limit at pay-and-display and permit-only bays, and may usually park on single or double yellow lines for up to three hours where there is no loading ban. You cannot return the same vehicle to the same road for at least an hour after leaving.
The exemption does not extend to private car parks, including supermarket and retail car parks, where the operator’s own signs apply.
Source: Bedford Borough Council, Parking with a Blue Badge.
Fines
A Penalty Charge Notice in Bedford is £70 or £50 depending on the contravention, halved if paid within 14 days. A resident permit gives no exemption from yellow lines.
Challenges have to be made in writing or online. The council states you cannot phone or call in to contest a PCN.
Source: Bedford Borough Council, Parking fines.
Have your say