Leaving your car parked on the street for a few weeks may seem harmless, but in Brussels, the rules can vary greatly depending on where you live. Between local police zones, temporary signage for works, and the lack of regional harmonisation, drivers heading on holiday or work trips should take a few precautions before locking up and leaving.
No single rule across Brussels
There is no uniform regional rule limiting how long a vehicle can remain parked in the same spot in the 19 Brussels communes.
Each parking zone has its own conditions:
- Green zone: no time limit unless temporary signage is installed (for works, removals, etc.).
- Grey zone: 4h30, unless the vehicle has a valid resident card.
- Blue, red, and orange zones: 2 hours, except for residents with a parking permit.
These limits are set by regional ordinances, but communes decide where each zone applies. Information about parking rules can be found on totems and ticket machines, through parking apps, or via parking.brussels. Drivers are responsible for checking local signage before leaving their vehicle for an extended period.
What happens if your car is towed away during your absence?
When temporary no-parking signs are installed for roadworks or removals, police officers are supposed to take photos and record the licence plates of cars already parked before the signs are set up.
However, mistakes do happen. “Sometimes, the police forget to note down the vehicles already there,” admits Laurent Masset, spokesperson for the police zone of Uccle, Auderghem and Watermael-Boitsfort. If your car is towed while you are away and you can prove it was parked before the signs were installed, for instance, with flight tickets or dated photos, you should not have to pay towing fees. In these cases, the commune bears the cost of moving the vehicle, not the driver. Furthermore, in some police zones, they might also bear the responsibility to prove that the signs arrived after you parked your car there, so you might not always have to rummage through your own documents for confirmation.
Each commune manages towing and signage locally. Parking.brussels is not responsible for temporary no-parking zones or towing decisions, which fall under the police and municipal authorities.
Can you get a temporary parking exemption?
There is no regional exemption for long-term street parking. Residents can, however, reserve a parking space through their commune for specific dates (for instance, during removals or works). For long absences, the authorities recommend private solutions such as garages, park-and-ride (P+R) facilities, or long-term parking lots.
A city trying to limit “car hibernation”
Brussels authorities say their parking policy aims to prevent “vehicle hoarding”, cars that occupy public space for weeks or months without moving. The regional strategy seeks to protect residents’ access to local parking, discourage commuters from driving into the city, and promote alternative mobility like public transport, car sharing, and cycling.
Drivers who plan to leave for an extended period are encouraged by parking.brussels to ask a neighbour to check the vehicle and move it if temporary signs appear. In short, if you leave Brussels for several weeks, check your parking zone, make sure no temporary signage is planned, and inform a trusted person.
If your car is towed despite having been legally parked, you can contest, and, in some police zones, law enforcement may have to prove that you didn’t park before the signal went up, and may have to cover the cost. But just to be on the safe side, always make sure to take pictures or to have documents like plane tickets, proving you had no way of moving your car when the signs went up.
