having to pay to park in the park car park....

[kdri155]

Slightly different, but whilst Rhyl Airshow was on yesterday someone had the idea of standing at the entrance to a couple of free car parks locally and charge visitors for parking there and hand out tickets to display, one car park had about 300 space the other about 70 at £3.00 a go they made a few quid quickly and scarpered.

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/r...

[HTP99]

Jim AK said:

Want to know a real Piss take?

£3 for 10 minutes to drop passengers at Luton Airport........ Charged at an unknown to me cost at Stanstead too apparently!!!

Yep happened to me when I collected my daughter from Gatwick a few weeks ago.

As I don't go to the airport very often I tend to get a bit confused where to go for a pick up, I ended going towards the "pick up point" but instead of the usual pick up point where you just drive along, stop and pick up, I ended up in the multistory "pick up point" and once you are there you can't get back out.

I parked, saw my daughter at the drive through pick up point; which has a ramp connected to the multi story pick up point, called her over, I was parked for 10 mins tops and was charged about £4 for the privilege.

[Joe5y]

Locally we have a small town Centre (Woodley) where the only places to park charge 80p for an hour £1.20 for two*. Now whilst this isn't much I do slightly resent the charges when I could drive the same distance and use a local supermarket and park for free. It doesn't engender the support of our local shops; the same shops that are within our council tax area.

• If you spend over £5 in Waitrose you get the parking ticket refunded but only in this 1 car park out of the 4 locally.

[FiF]

Tbh I reckon our council has it about right, apart from one issue, see later. Not got a particular problem with commuters coming in, tourists on the other hand come in droves in the summer and Bank Holidays, God knows why tbh, but they do.

All the tourist parks are not particularly convenient for visiting the town centre, can see the argument for making these places free to attract visitors, but they are P&D not particularly expensive.

For people visiting the centre for shops, say, there is plenty of on street parking, time limited to 30 mins close to centre, hour further out, and then not time limited within 10 minutes walk, which I reckon isn't bad.

All other parks away from the tourist bit, ie for residents, parking is provided and free. So in essence reckon all this is OK.

The one bit where I think the council is wrong, relates to land, 5 minutes walk from the centre, which was left as a legacy for the free use of the citizens. It's been in use for decades as a free car park and site of public conveniences. There has even been planning permission for housing nearby with restricted parking where part of the decision was that residents could use this car park, which was absolutely the handiest place to park near the centre if you wanted to stay a few hours or all day, despite this was never to my knowledge completely full. As I say there isn't a commuter problem.

The council then started trying to get out of the free use of citizens clause, and started to charge for parking. Legal challenge and protest, meant that they were forced to allow the first hour free. But now they've gone further, closed the toilets, which will be demolished, and sold off three quarters of the land for housing development, despite there being much better brownfield site for housing literally one minute walk away, not to nentiin various other sites. Expecting the building site works offices stores etc to take up the part of the car park not being developed, and then of course, slight planning change and it's all gone. Stinks.

[Dubmaster77]

Jaguar steve said:

blueg33 said:

Most places in the rest of Europe don't charge for parking at parks or beaches etc. This country takes the piss with parking charges in many places.

When we go away, cost of parking especially at beaches becomes a consideration. Over a couple of weeks holiday its a material difference.

Exactly this. Nowhere else I've been in Europe wallet rapes like the UK does for parking. It's always either free or in particularly rammed places like Madrid or Barcelona city centres or some beaches in the south of France charges are a few cents an hour and you usually pay on leaving for exactly the time to the minute you've been there. Not a thought of refusal to give change or demand for reg numbers or paying up front in sight.

I get why organizations like the National Trust have to charge but most of the run down st holes that pass themselves off as holiday resorts in the UK or individuals who charge way more than a large family round of ice creams to park in a pot holed and mud slicked field full of stinging nettles by a beach or local authorities who think charging for a visit to a invariably neglected park with flowerbeds full of weeds and a liberal scattering of used syringes, graffiti, litter and dog st all over are absolutely taking the piss.

Local authorities and people who do so are obviously too dim witted to work out they ought to be encouraging and welcoming people ready to spend time and money in the area and not shafting them vigorously up the arse before the car is even out of sight and at the same time leaving the threat of big fines and penalties if they dare to overstay. All that actually does is make everybody scuttle off promptly once the three hours or whatever is up rather than hanging around for longer and potentially supporting local businesses by having a meal in a restaurant, doing some more shopping or spending the evening in the pub.

Quite...

In Feance you have to pay Tolls to use the motorway equivilant I'm fairly certain there income tax is much higher.

Germany for instance income tax when I worked there was 42%

Makes £2 for the car park seem reasonable???

[blueg33]

Dubmaster77 said:

Jaguar steve said:

blueg33 said:

Most places in the rest of Europe don't charge for parking at parks or beaches etc. This country takes the piss with parking charges in many places.

When we go away, cost of parking especially at beaches becomes a consideration. Over a couple of weeks holiday its a material difference.

Exactly this. Nowhere else I've been in Europe wallet rapes like the UK does for parking. It's always either free or in particularly rammed places like Madrid or Barcelona city centres or some beaches in the south of France charges are a few cents an hour and you usually pay on leaving for exactly the time to the minute you've been there. Not a thought of refusal to give change or demand for reg numbers or paying up front in sight.

I get why organizations like the National Trust have to charge but most of the run down st holes that pass themselves off as holiday resorts in the UK or individuals who charge way more than a large family round of ice creams to park in a pot holed and mud slicked field full of stinging nettles by a beach or local authorities who think charging for a visit to a invariably neglected park with flowerbeds full of weeds and a liberal scattering of used syringes, graffiti, litter and dog st all over are absolutely taking the piss.

Local authorities and people who do so are obviously too dim witted to work out they ought to be encouraging and welcoming people ready to spend time and money in the area and not shafting them vigorously up the arse before the car is even out of sight and at the same time leaving the threat of big fines and penalties if they dare to overstay. All that actually does is make everybody scuttle off promptly once the three hours or whatever is up rather than hanging around for longer and potentially supporting local businesses by having a meal in a restaurant, doing some more shopping or spending the evening in the pub.

Quite...

In Feance you have to pay Tolls to use the motorway equivilant I'm fairly certain there income tax is much higher.

Germany for instance income tax when I worked there was 42%

Makes £2 for the car park seem reasonable???

I summarised the tax burden in France earlier. Many motorways and good dual carraigeways in France don't have tolls, and most of the other roads are excellent. They have to pay for double the amount of roads as the uk with a similar size population and a lower average income.

[Countdown]

Dubmaster77 said:

Quite...

In Feance you have to pay Tolls to use the motorway equivilant I'm fairly certain there income tax is much higher.

Germany for instance income tax when I worked there was 42%

Makes £2 for the car park seem reasonable???

Agreed. What they do in other countries is irrelevant as we would be comparing apples with Nokias.

IMO non-essential services should be paid directly by the end user. Why should others be expected to subsidise something "I" use?

[ashleyman]

3 of my local pubs and 2 local parks have just started charging for parking.

The pubs you have to pay into the machine, then take your ticket inside, spend a certain amount and then the parking fee gets refunded. More annoying if you don't have change and then end up not being able to go to the pub - this has happened twice when we don't have enough to cover the cars so go elsewhere, usually 12 people and 6 or 7 cars that they're missing out on getting business from.

The parks are all RingGo or whatever it is. Horrible system.

[Jim AK]

ashleyman said:

The parks are all RingGo or whatever it is. Horrible system.

I quite like Ringo, was using it in Devon on holiday.

I'm registered for it in London already, bit of a Bh if you're not though I suppose.

I also like it because when I park I get email receipt & don't have to keep loads of stupid tickets for my expense claims!!

[xRIEx]

Jim AK said:

ashleyman said:

The parks are all RingGo or whatever it is. Horrible system.

I quite like Ringo, was using it in Devon on holiday.

I'm registered for it in London already, bit of a Bh if you're not though I suppose.

I also like it because when I park I get email receipt & don't have to keep loads of stupid tickets for my expense claims!!

Same here - it's simple to use, you get an emailed receipt as you point out, if you don't know how long you're going to be you can get a short amount of time and then extend it from your phone if you need longer, no need to trek back to the pay machine/car for another ticket, then trek back to wherever you were.

[Countdown]

Jim AK said:

ashleyman said:

The parks are all RingGo or whatever it is. Horrible system.

I quite like Ringo, was using it in Devon on holiday.

I'm registered for it in London already, bit of a Bh if you're not though I suppose.

I also like it because when I park I get email receipt & don't have to keep loads of stupid tickets for my expense claims!!

Same here but it's called PaybyPhone. Avoids having to look for change, can be renewed via mobile, and receipts are sent via email. It's brilliant.

The only downside is you can't pass on your unexpired ticket to somebody else

[silent ninja]

Yes. Really bad trend.

Worse are the hospitals. I mean, you need to visit the A&E and you return with a £21 ticket. Criminal. Imagine having a long term in patient that you need to visit - a sick member of the family ? My mum was seriously unwell for 11 months in our local hospital. It cost £120+ a month just on parking, and that's just me and not siblings, friends and relatives. Seriously appalled how our government tax the poor and working folk to the heavens, whilst the elite pay the least amount of tax through their offshore accounts...

Edited by silent ninja on Monday 29th August 14:18

[Countdown]

silent ninja said:

Yes. Really bad trend.

Worse are the hospitals. I mean, you need to visit the A&E and you return with a £21 ticket. Criminal. Imagine having a long term in patient that you need to visit - a sick member of the family ? My mum was seriously unwell for 11 months in our local hospital. It cost £120+ a month just on parking, and that's just me and not siblings, friends and relatives. Seriously appalled how our government tax the poor and working folk to the heavens, whilst the elite pay the least amount of tax through their offshore accounts...

Edited by silent ninja on Monday 29th August 14:18

In some hospitals you can usually get a weekly/monthly pass which is significantly cheaper. When my wife was in hospital giving birth she was in there for a week each time. IIRC it cost me £5.

With regards to your comment about tax, the Govt can either spend it on treating patients or on providing free parking. Or by increasing general taxation which means that everybody pays for parking which they might or might not use.

[FiF]

xRIEx said:

Jim AK said:

ashleyman said:

The parks are all RingGo or whatever it is. Horrible system.

I quite like Ringo, was using it in Devon on holiday.

I'm registered for it in London already, bit of a Bh if you're not though I suppose.

I also like it because when I park I get email receipt & don't have to keep loads of stupid tickets for my expense claims!!

Same here - it's simple to use, you get an emailed receipt as you point out, if you don't know how long you're going to be you can get a short amount of time and then extend it from your phone if you need longer, no need to trek back to the pay machine/car for another ticket, then trek back to wherever you were.

All you RingGo'ers, is it normal for there to be a significant surcharge, eg I stopped using it after an initial experiment when charged £1 for a 60p stay. Although must admit the ability to extend the stay when permitted is useful.

[Countdown]

20p I think.

[Jim AK]

FiF said:

All you RingGo'ers, is it normal for there to be a significant surcharge, eg I stopped using it after an initial experiment when charged £1 for a 60p stay. Although must admit the ability to extend the stay when permitted is useful.

I'm afraid so & it seems to be a different surcharge depending where you park!

Sadly you have little choice in Central London as they ripped out almost all the credit card machines, not even leaving 1 on each street, when the phone parking system was unveiled.

[xRIEx]

Countdown said:

20p I think.

That's been my experience (I've not used it in London).

[vikingaero]

red_slr said:

I think a lot of the issue is that private companies in the UK look after roads for the LA.
Round here its done by an off shoot of the council - not quite sure how they get away with it tbh. All the electrical and ground works are also done by private companies for said council off shoot. The result is a job that should cost a couple of grand costs £20k+.

My brother works as a Contracts Manager for a private company. He says that Council work is a PITA. You can quote X and they then vary the work and expect it to be priced the same. Then a week before they will insist on upping liability cover to a ridiculous level or introduce stupid conditions at the last minute. Most of the time he adds an extra zero to their jobs to say "Thanks, but no thanks" and it's surprising how often they accept.