Parking control

Municipality of Leiden

To carry out parking controls, the municipality uses scan cars. The cameras on the scan car use an image recognition algorithm to 1) recognise license plates and 2) check in the parking rights database whether the vehicle is allowed to park there. Boas also have manual scanners that perform checks.

Last change on 13th of May 2025, at 8:29 (CET) | Publication Standard 1.0

• Publication category: Impactful algorithms
• Impact assessment: DPIA
• Status: In use

General information

Theme

Traffic

Begin date

01-2017

Contact information

[e-mail]

Responsible use

Goal and impact

The purpose of the parking scan car is enforcement for fiscal ('paid') parking (after-tax (nha) parking tax).

For the processing of personal data, as part of the implementation and enforcement of digital license plate parking, strictly necessary information is collected which aims to enable the following:

(a) the control of parking tax payments;

b) the levying and collection of parking tax (including after-tax assessments).

Considerations

Before introduction of the scan car, every suspicious vehicle during enforcement is followed up individually by an enforcer/BOA. With this working method, there is always still a human check which is intended to cause fewer objections.

Human intervention

After linking the scanned license plate number by the algorithm to the Parking Rights Database, it appears whether or not there is a valid parking right. If a vehicle is found not to have a valid parking right, another assessment by the enforcer takes place.

Risk management

Disruption in the chain can lead to an incorrect query/assessment of a license plate, a human check is included in the process to reduce/prevent those errors.

Legal basis

The Municipalities Act states that the municipal council may adopt ordinances on the levy and collection of parking taxes. These are laid down in the current ordinance on the levy and collection of parking taxes. This tax ordinance indicates that taxes must be paid for the use of public space and where taxes must be paid.

Links to legal bases

Artikelen 156, eerste en tweede lid, aanhef en onderdeel h, en artikel 225 van de Gemeentewet en de Verordening op de heffing en invordering van parkeerbelastingen 2024:: https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0005416/2024-01-31/#TiteldeelIII_HoofdstukIX_Artikel156

Link to Processing Index

https://leiden.registervanverwerkingen.nl/details/d9135ca7-5114-426a-931f-b34af0be6520

Impact assessment

Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA)

Operations

Data

Registration number, parking right(NPR), parking box

Technical design

The scan car scans a license plate. The license plate is queried in the parking rights database(NPR). If permissions are found, the registration is deleted. If no rights are found, the photos taken, location data, time, date and vehicle data (RDW) are linked to the license plate and presented to the enforcer as 1 registration. The enforcer assesses the findings of the scanning car. He then decides whether to impose an additional charge or warning, or to reject the registration in case of inaccuracies.

External provider

Sigmax/ ACI SCANACAR