A rare paean of praise for a Council re parking permits
Discussion
I have recently moved into a flat in Belsize Park which is in the London Borough of Camden. When last I had a London parking permit it was issued by Islington, and the permit process was rather clunky. To be fair it had not yet gone digital and was still paper based.
In Camden (and maybe Islington too by now) you can obtain a permit online in minutes without producing any documents. You pay up front and have twelve weeks to produce residence and car documents. You can have up to three cars on the permit, with the second and third cars being progressively more expensive. One car can be active on the permit at any given time. The permit is an invisible e-permit, and becomes active straight away. Changing the car on the permit takes seconds.
On the pay and display parking paying by phone is easy and cheap, and the system (used by other boroughs too) stores car and payment details so you just press a few buttons on the keypad as you walk away from the car. If I was less Luddite I could do it on an app, perhaps, or register to do it by SMS.
This is one local government IT project that has been well handled.
Some will say that it is a pill having to pay to park near your house, but London is busy and councils are strapped for cash. I don't mind paying for a scarce commodity, and the ability to park on land that isn't yours isn't a right. I assume that some of the money goes to a contractor and some to the council, and that's OK by me.
Anyway, CSB, I know, but it makes a change from all the oh noes my life is ruined by the Parking-Nazis blah.
In Camden (and maybe Islington too by now) you can obtain a permit online in minutes without producing any documents. You pay up front and have twelve weeks to produce residence and car documents. You can have up to three cars on the permit, with the second and third cars being progressively more expensive. One car can be active on the permit at any given time. The permit is an invisible e-permit, and becomes active straight away. Changing the car on the permit takes seconds.
On the pay and display parking paying by phone is easy and cheap, and the system (used by other boroughs too) stores car and payment details so you just press a few buttons on the keypad as you walk away from the car. If I was less Luddite I could do it on an app, perhaps, or register to do it by SMS.
This is one local government IT project that has been well handled.
Some will say that it is a pill having to pay to park near your house, but London is busy and councils are strapped for cash. I don't mind paying for a scarce commodity, and the ability to park on land that isn't yours isn't a right. I assume that some of the money goes to a contractor and some to the council, and that's OK by me.
Anyway, CSB, I know, but it makes a change from all the oh noes my life is ruined by the Parking-Nazis blah.
Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 25th October 13:43
citizensm1th said:
beard ,hipster haircut and tattoos next
will we be seeing you at wheels and waves next year?
I deplore all the hipster dads around here with their neck beards and tats and foolish mono wheeled vehicles, but I do not deplore all the gym-honed and leather-trousered hyper-MILFs. will we be seeing you at wheels and waves next year?
gooner1 said:
Fair play to Camden but doesn't the allowance of up to three permits
limit the number of individuals able to obtain one, or do you mean that it covers up to three
vehicles but only one can be parked at any one time?
One at a time - you designate an active vehicle on the website. Switching vehicle takes a few seconds. limit the number of individuals able to obtain one, or do you mean that it covers up to three
vehicles but only one can be parked at any one time?
One skanky heap is in London at any given time (currently Dolomite Sprint). The other leprous junkpiles are rotting outside a farmhouse in Oxfordshire. When I get rid of that place next year, I will sell some of the putrid wrecks and maybe place one or two others in renty storage in a place I know in Islington. Most of the s
tboxes are too old to pay the T-charge.
tboxes are too old to pay the T-charge.Type R Tom said:
Breadvan72 said:
Some will say that it is a pill having to pay to park near your house, but London is busy and councils are strapped for cash. I don't mind paying for a scarce commodity, and the ability to park on land that isn't yours isn't a right
.
Well done. The sooner more people release that the better. In central London most people pay less council tax and less to park than other cities yet because the pay for a permit and "road tax" they demand a space outside their house. .
In the 90s I had once of the legendary Kensington and Chelsea permits that allows you to park anywhere across that large borough. I lived in Beaufort Street in Chelsea and could rarely park within two streets of my flat, as the spaces were usually full. In Islington I usually got a space outside or very close to my house. In Camden I get to park right outside my flat more often than not.
Yes the area is pretty and the house is big and whatnot, but there are no restaurants*, no opera**, no Martinis, no black people, and everyone is a smug Tory or 'kipper. I am a City person and am baffled that I ever left. Belsize Park has all that civilisation provides either right there or a few tube stops away, and there is Hampstead Heath for air and space and trees.
* Le Manoir and the Charles Napier don't count because you can't just go there on a whim any night of the week. Well you could, but you'd be skint in no time. All the others are beige gastropubs.
** Garsington doesn't count. It's an extension of London.
* Le Manoir and the Charles Napier don't count because you can't just go there on a whim any night of the week. Well you could, but you'd be skint in no time. All the others are beige gastropubs.
** Garsington doesn't count. It's an extension of London.
Everywhere has too many rich kids. I last lived in Belsize in the early 90s. It is about as posh as it was then but more international : many Americans, French, Poles (posh ones), Japanese, and so on. There are some brown people but not many black people, but Camden and Kentish Town are not far away. There are still some OK eats. Chez Bob is a good and fairly priced neighbourhood place. Not gastro, but pleasant. The Persian restaurant down by the Richard Steele pub (which used to be fine place to pull hot medics and score drugs) is very good. I haven't tried the Brazilian and Japanese places down there. I like the Casa Bianca old school Italian in Hampstead. Cheesy but fun. Go down to Primrose Hill in NW1 and there is romantic Odette's and norf London Sunday lunch institution Lemonia (again not gastro, but jolly). The cheapy curry house and cheapy Greek place in Belsize Village that were there in the 90s are still there.
I was sent several polite renewal reminders, and also when I had a problem switching vehicles online I rang up, and spoke to a helpful person after a three minute wait. She sorted the problem. Maybe there are two Camdens in north London, one good one, one bad one.
I am now living overseas and council tax and parking permits do not presently exist for me.
I am now living overseas and council tax and parking permits do not presently exist for me.
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