Parking management: destroying licence-plate data
A parking operator or garage manager processes more personal data than it seems: licence plates via ANPR cameras, entry and exit footage, permit applications with address and vehicle, season tickets and payment data, and sometimes a disabled parking permit. A licence plate with a timestamp shows when someone was somewhere, which makes this data more sensitive than a simple parking ticket. This guide shows, by part, what you keep, when it may go and how to destroy it confidentially.
The quick answer: licence-plate and camera footage you keep as briefly as possible, camera footage in principle a maximum of four weeks. The season-ticket and invoicing administration falls under the tax seven years. Permit applications you keep no longer than necessary. What may go you erase or have destroyed confidentially with a certificate.
Why a licence plate is personal data
A licence plate looks anonymous, but it is traceable to a person and is therefore personal data under the GDPR. In combination with a timestamp it says a lot: when someone came and went, how often, and thereby something about their movements. A parking operator that registers plates with ANPR thereby processes sensitive information, even without a name attached. With permits, address, vehicle and sometimes a disabled parking permit are added, and the latter touches on health data.
The GDPR requires storage limitation, and with licence-plate and camera footage that weighs heavily. Do not keep this data longer than necessary for the parking transaction or a concrete incident, and erase it afterwards. Only the administration has a fixed period of seven years.
Retention periods by part
The period differs per type of data. The overview below gives the main line. Count the tax period from the end of the financial year and the other periods from the parking transaction.
| Part | Starting point | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicing and season-ticket administration | Tax retention obligation | 7 years |
| Licence-plate data (ANPR) | As briefly as possible | erase after transaction |
| Entry and exit footage | Limited retention | in principle 4 weeks |
| Permit and disabled parking permit | Address, vehicle, sometimes health | as long as needed, destroy finely |
| Enforcement and fines | Until handling and limitation | purpose-bound |
| Correspondence and drafts | No retention obligation | clear out at once |
Use this as a guideline, not a final legal ruling. When in doubt about a specific case, consult your data protection officer or adviser. The tax side is in the 7-year tax retention obligation.
Erasing plates and camera footage
For licence-plate and camera footage, erasing after the retention period is the standard. Make sure your system deletes plates and footage automatically as soon as the parking transaction is completed or the short retention period has expired. Camera footage you keep in principle for a maximum of four weeks, and longer only if it shows a concrete incident still being handled. You read more about that in how long to keep CCTV footage.
If footage or logs are on physical carriers, or old equipment is freed up in a system replacement, deleting a file is not enough, because the data stays on the disk. Have those carriers destroyed confidentially, so no movement profiles are left on written-off equipment.
Permits and the disabled parking permit
A parking permit or resident permit contains an address and vehicle data, and a disabled parking permit touches on health data, which is special-category personal data. Keep those applications recognisably separate, allow them only to those who need them and destroy them at a fine level once the permit has expired and there is no longer a reason to keep them. That way you avoid a mountain of permit applications with sensitive data lying around for years.
How to handle it in 6 steps
- Split the data into administration, licence-plate and camera footage, permits and enforcement.
- Set up erasure so plates and footage disappear automatically after their purpose.
- Treat permits and the disabled parking permit separately and at a fine destruction level.
- Assess enforcement files for handling and limitation.
- Collect paper and old carriers in sealed containers, not in the paper bin.
- Have it destroyed confidentially with a certificate and record it in your register.
Destroy confidentially with a certificate
Paper with permit and enforcement data and old data carriers with licence-plate and camera footage you have destroyed confidentially, because they contain movement profiles and sometimes health data. The material travels sealed and stays that way until destruction, so the chain is closed. Digital footage you erase in the system, the carriers it was on go along for destruction.
Afterwards you receive a certificate of destruction with the date, quantity and level. That certificate is your proof towards the GDPR that you acted carefully. Record the destruction in your record of processing. We collect within 20 km of Amsterdam with no call-out charge, work nationwide through pooled collection rounds and charge a fixed price per box or roll container. Drop-off on site is not possible; it works by appointment through collection.
Parking data to be destroyed?
Tell us what you have and you get a fixed price. We collect it sealed, destroy it at the right DIN level and you receive a certificate for your GDPR file. No call-out charge within 20 km of Amsterdam.
Request a quoteCommon mistakes
- Keeping plates indefinitely. A plate with a timestamp is a movement profile and should be kept as briefly as possible.
- Keeping camera footage too long. The retention period is in principle four weeks.
- Treating the disabled parking permit as ordinary paper. That touches on health data.
- Disposing of old recording carriers unwiped. The footage is still on them until they are destroyed.
- Keeping no proof. Without a certificate you cannot demonstrate the destruction.
Frequently asked questions
Is a licence plate personal data?
Yes. A licence plate is traceable to a person and is therefore personal data under the GDPR. In combination with a timestamp it shows when someone was somewhere, which makes the data sensitive and calls for a short retention period.
How long may I keep camera footage of a car park?
In principle you keep camera footage for a maximum of four weeks, longer only for a concrete incident still being handled. After that it is erased or the recording carriers destroyed.
How long do I keep parking permits and season tickets?
Invoicing and season-ticket administration fall under the seven-year tax retention obligation. Permit applications with address, vehicle and sometimes a disabled parking permit you keep no longer than necessary for the purpose.
How do I destroy parking data in line with the GDPR?
Erase licence-plate and camera footage after the period and have paper and old data carriers destroyed confidentially with a certificate. The destruction is recorded in the record of processing.
Conclusion
A parking operator processes licence plates and camera footage that together form a movement profile, plus permits with sometimes health data. Keep the administration seven years, erase licence-plate and camera footage after their short period and treat permits and the disabled parking permit separately. Paper and old recording carriers you have destroyed confidentially with a certificate as proof. That way you keep nothing too long and protect your customers' movement data.
Read also: taxi companies: destroying ride data, car rental and leasing: destroying customer data, moving companies: destroying customer data and the GDPR retention periods cheatsheet.
Have parking data collected? Request a quote via desnipperaar.nl. Within a few minutes you have a fixed price, including a certificate as proof.