All guides
- London parking suspensions for moving house
- Parking suspension vs dispensation
- Barnet parking suspension and dispensation for moving house
- Camden parking suspension
- Enfield parking on moving day
- Hackney parking suspension
- Haringey parking suspension
- Islington parking suspension
- Red route dispensations
- ULEZ, removals vans and the Congestion Charge on moving day
Camden parking suspension: the free first day and the £200 tow
Written by Daniel, founder, Metro City MovesEvery figure read from camden.gov.uk on the date above
A Camden parking suspension is the cheapest way to reserve a moving-day bay of the six North London boroughs we track — and the most misquoted. For a house move, Camden waives the first-day space charge for up to 3 consecutive spaces, its £349.81 short-notice charge does not apply either, and what remains is the £66.66 administration charge. The part other pages misquote is the notice: a five-working-day figure still circulates online, and it is not what Camden publishes — Camden requires 17 days, with an absolute minimum of 3.
The short version
- A one-day house move, up to 3 spaces: £66.66 — the administration charge and nothing else.
- Notice: bookings should be made at least 17 days ahead, with an absolute minimum of 3 days.
- The £349.81 short-notice charge does not apply to a house move — no other borough waives an equivalent at all.
- If a car blocks the bay and the street had less than 14 days of warning, the tow costs £200 a vehicle, non-refundable.
- Camden charges its day rate for the whole booking, not day one and then a taper.
Camden is one of six boroughs we track, and the gaps between them are enormous. The comparison lives in what every borough charges.
The house move concession — the best of the six boroughs
Camden's own page says it in one sentence: "If you're moving home you do not have to pay the suspension space charge for the first day only (up to 3 consecutive spaces) and the short notice charge does not apply. The administration charge will still apply."
That is two separate waivers operating together, and here is what they are worth on the same booking:
| Camden, 3 spaces, 1 day, booked 3 days ahead | Cost |
|---|---|
| Building works | £66.66 admin + £349.81 short notice + 3 × £79.63 = £655.36 |
| House move | £66.66 |
The identical booking is £588.70 cheaper because the reason is a house move — Camden is the only borough of the six that treats movers this way, which is why we lead with it.
What a Camden parking suspension costs
The administration charge is £66.66 for each suspension created. On top of it, the space charge is tiered by the length of the booking:
| Days booked | Per space, per day |
|---|---|
| 1 day | £79.63 |
| 2 to 5 days | £87.61 |
| 6 to 10 days | £95.56 |
| 11 to 14 days | £103.55 |
| 15 to 42 days | £119.49 |
| 43 to 183 days | £151.34 |
A 14-day suspension is charged at £103.55 a space for all fourteen days — not one day at £79.63 and then a taper. Camden's structure is the opposite of Islington's and Hackney's, and it is easily misread.
Two smaller rules have money attached: each suspension created on Camden's system carries its own £66.66, so two roads means two administration charges. And rebooking within a week of a suspension ending is treated as an extension, which continues the last charging tier rather than starting again.
17 days' notice, not 5
Camden's page is explicit: "Bookings should be made at least 17 days in advance of the start date of the suspension." The floor is just as explicit: "The minimum period that you can book a suspension is 3 days before a suspension starts." Anything quoting five working days for Camden is quoting a number Camden does not publish.
The rest of the clock:
- Changes can be made up to 4 days before the suspension starts.
- Extensions must be requested and paid at least 4 working days before the current suspension ends — and no short-notice fee applies to an extension.
- The maximum is 6 months on any one street.
For a house move the 17 days matter less than they look, because the short-notice charge is waived. Book late and the price stays £66.66 — but only down to the 3-day minimum, and not below it.
The £200 tow
Here is the sharp edge attached to the free first day. Camden's terms say that where 14 days or more of on-street warning has been given, its vehicle removal service is free on request. With less than 14 days of warning, "a vehicle relocation fee of £200 per vehicle is chargeable prior to the dispatch of a removal truck. This is non-refundable even if the vehicle has moved before the truck arrives to the location."
If a car is sitting in the bay on the morning, moving it costs £200, paid before the tow is dispatched, kept even if the driver wanders back first. The free concession and the £200 trap are two ends of the same decision: book early and both problems disappear.
Camden's vehicle removal service works 8.15am–6.45pm, and a vehicle in your suspended bay is reported on 020 7974 7134, quoting the suspension reference and the road name. Enforcement is prioritised but depends on available resources, and Camden — like every borough — reserves the right to amend or cancel a suspension at any time.
Camden's parking hours — do not assume 8.30am to 6.30pm
Camden publishes no list of CPZ hours, only a map, and it debunks the usual assumption itself. Its own guide calls "all CPZs operate Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 6.30pm" a myth: Camden has 19 zones plus sub-zones, and in the streets around Camden's markets, controls run until 11pm on weekdays and over the weekend. Read the plate on your own street rather than a borough-wide claim — including ours.
We have not verified its price, so we do not quote one. What a dispensation is — and why it reserves nothing — is explained in suspension vs dispensation. And if your street is a red route, it belongs to TfL, not Camden: see moving house where the council cannot help.
Questions we get about Camden suspensions
Is it true Camden only needs five working days?
No — Camden's own page requires bookings at least 17 days in advance, with an absolute minimum of 3 days. The five-day figure circulates on removals websites, but Camden does not publish it.
What does a one-day suspension cost for a house move?
£66.66 — the administration charge alone, because the first-day space charge is waived for up to 3 consecutive spaces and the £349.81 short-notice charge does not apply to house moves.
Does the waiver cover more than three spaces?
Camden's wording caps it at 3 consecutive spaces. Most domestic moves fit a Luton and a bit of walking room into three 5-metre spaces; if you need a fourth, expect the space charge on it.
What happens if a car is parked in the bay we paid for?
Call 020 7974 7134 with your reference. If the street had 14 days or more of on-street warning, removal is free on request. With less warning it is £200 per vehicle, non-refundable — one more reason to book the bay before you book the van.
Moving in Camden? Tell us the street and the date when you ask for a quote and we will tell you which of these clocks has already started — or begin at house removals.
Sources
Every figure above was read on 17 August 2026, over HTTPS, from Camden's own pages. Council fees are typically uprated each April, so all of them are re-checked then.
- Parking bay suspensions — camden.gov.uk, /parking-bay-suspensions
- Terms and conditions for parking bay suspensions — camden.gov.uk, /terms-and-conditions-for-parking-bay-suspensions
- Inside parking (CPZ myths, October 2021) — camden.gov.uk, /documents/20142/3754167/ParkingInCamden1021.pdf/93b2800f-9dc7-c95a-ef01-b32edfeb8b75