Parking sign

A blue square bearing a white capital P, marking a place where parking is permitted.

Also known as: P sign, Blue P

Road & transportStandard profile

Meanings

A white P on blue marks permitted parking. The same letter inside a red-bordered circle with a diagonal bar means the opposite, and the two are distinguished only by the surrounding shape and colour.

Officially standardisedVerified fact
Marks a place where parking is permitted, subject to any conditions stated on a supplementary plate below it.
Contracting parties to the 1968 Vienna Convention · Contexts: Road signage
Common modern usageVerified fact
Reverses meaning entirely when the same letter appears inside a red-bordered blue disc crossed by a red diagonal, which prohibits parking — so the letter alone does not carry the meaning.
Contexts: Road signage

Visual description

A blue square with a narrow white border, carrying a large white capital letter P centred on its face.

Symmetry: none
Orientation: upright
Colours: blue, white

Confidence

IdentityHigh confidence: High confidence because the identity is defined by a current official standard, but multiple independent sources agree.
Historical originModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree, but early or supporting evidence is limited, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useHigh confidence: High confidence because the current use is defined by a current official standard, but multiple independent sources agree.
Visual matchHigh confidence: High confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.

Sources

Convention on Road Signs and Signals (Vienna, 8 November 1968), consolidated text
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe · retrieved 2026-07-31
A treaty binding only on its contracting parties. It prescribes sign categories, shapes and colours and permits national variants within them; it does not describe the signage of non-signatory states, notably the United States. Cited for category and design prescription, never for the traffic law of a particular country.
Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-31
Tertiary reference. Used for what a sign depicts, which countries use which variant, and the broad regulatory lineage — not for an article number of the treaty or for the law of any single jurisdiction.
Parking
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-31
Tertiary reference. Used for what a sign depicts, which countries use which variant, and the broad regulatory lineage — not for an article number of the treaty or for the law of any single jurisdiction.
Convention on Road Signs and Signals of 1968 and the European Agreement supplementing it
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe · retrieved 2026-07-31
The publisher's own landing page for the consolidated instruments. Used for the status and scope of the Convention and its supplementing agreement rather than for the text of any provision.

Last reviewed 2026-07-31

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Road signs and what their shapes mean

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Meanings

A white P on blue marks permitted parking. The same letter inside a red-bordered circle with a diagonal bar means the opposite, and the two are distinguished only by the surrounding shape and colour.

Officially standardisedVerified fact

Marks a place where parking is permitted, subject to any conditions stated on a supplementary plate below it.

Contracting parties to the 1968 Vienna Convention · Contexts: Road signage

Common modern usageVerified fact

Reverses meaning entirely when the same letter appears inside a red-bordered blue disc crossed by a red diagonal, which prohibits parking — so the letter alone does not carry the meaning.

Contexts: Road signage

Confidence

IdentityHigh confidence: High confidence because the identity is defined by a current official standard, but multiple independent sources agree.
Historical originModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree, but early or supporting evidence is limited, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useHigh confidence: High confidence because the current use is defined by a current official standard, but multiple independent sources agree.
Visual matchHigh confidence: High confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references, but multiple independent sources agree.

Sources

Convention on Road Signs and Signals (Vienna, 8 November 1968), consolidated text
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe · retrieved 2026-07-31
A treaty binding only on its contracting parties. It prescribes sign categories, shapes and colours and permits national variants within them; it does not describe the signage of non-signatory states, notably the United States. Cited for category and design prescription, never for the traffic law of a particular country.
Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-31
Tertiary reference. Used for what a sign depicts, which countries use which variant, and the broad regulatory lineage — not for an article number of the treaty or for the law of any single jurisdiction.
Parking
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-31
Tertiary reference. Used for what a sign depicts, which countries use which variant, and the broad regulatory lineage — not for an article number of the treaty or for the law of any single jurisdiction.
Convention on Road Signs and Signals of 1968 and the European Agreement supplementing it
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe · retrieved 2026-07-31
The publisher's own landing page for the consolidated instruments. Used for the status and scope of the Convention and its supplementing agreement rather than for the text of any provision.

Last reviewed 2026-07-31