People in Brussels are increasingly complaining about the city's parking policy, said Brussels Councillor Catherine De Bruecker. The number of complaints sent to Ombuds Brussels nearly doubled last year, from 233 in 2024 to 450 in 2025.
De Bruecker told Bruzz that most complaints are related to the complexity of the parking system in Brussels, as unclear municipal boundaries and fragmented communication confuse residents.
In some cases, people have accidentally parked in the wrong municipality as the different zones were unclear, resulting in unexpected hefty fines, according to De Bruecker. Moreover, sometimes the information provided by municipalities and the regional parking agency, Parking.brussels, is inconsistent.
On top of that, people get confused about the geographical scope where the resident card is valid. "Some residents misunderstand the geographical scope of the resident’s permit for their neighbourhood and repeatedly park in an adjacent sector of the same municipality, for which they do not have an exemption, De Bruecker said.
Based on residents' complaints, Ombuds Brussels calls for better coordination in Brussels' parking control. "That would make it much clearer for users. In the current system, there is too much risk of error," she said.
Catherine De Bruecker pictured during a plenary session of the parliament of the Brussels Region in Brussels, Friday, 10 December 2021. Credit: Belga / Hatim Kaghat
De Bruecker also pointed out that in many cases, a 10-day term for a fine to arrive has resulted in successive fines as people continued using the same spot in the meantime. "So someone can receive several fines for a mistake that they initially did not even know was committed," De Bruecker said.
Ombuds Brussels also warns about the introduction of 'parking totems,' with a text message or an app as the only payment options, which may limit accessibility.
Parking.brussels has defended the policy, arguing that only 4% of motorists do not have a smartphone, while a parking meter costs 2,600 euros per year and is loss-making in half of the cases.
"The municipalities and parking.brussels are looking for a balance between accessibility for users and a feasible budget," it wrote in a response to Ombuds Brussels findings.
Parking.brussels promises improvements
Parking.brussels said it "appreciates" the comments, and that it "works well together" with Ombuds Brussels, Bruzz reported. "The recommendations are in line with the various areas for improvement that we have been working on for many months," they wrote.
Parking.brussels said they have been operating a specialised team to handle complaints for several months, apart from customer service. In addition, Parking.brussels announced that it has invested in a new software system for the follow-up of complaints, which has been active for a week, and has launched a customer portal for complaints on the website.
As to De Bruecker's remark on successive fines in cases when someone forgets to renew a resident card, Parking.brussels said that it has introduced a 25-day tolerance period in which all fines will be cancelled if the resident card is renewed.
The agency is also working on a proposal to equalise the rules around border zones throughout Brussels, and a better information service.
