Safe Speed Forums

The following from an email list this morning, reproduced with permission:

I went to Cheltenham yesterday to do my Christmas shopping, a chore I loathe with a passion. The only thing that makes it bearable for me is a decent lunch half-way through. What made it totally unbearable yesterday was a £9 parking fee for just under five hours.

I've e-mailed the council (very easy to do) and the local paper the copy below. If you?re hacked off with something similar, look up the local authority concerned on google and write to them ? it takes seconds. And so do the local papers. The more of us who write, the more impact we?ll have.

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Sirs,

I've done my Christmas shopping in Cheltenham for the last 10 years, parking in the Regent Arcade. Good shops, good restaurants beyond Montpellier, and until recently, parking has not been as grim as in Oxford, my nearest town. Not this year - £9 to park from just before 11am to just after 3pm.

I've noticed you getting progressively more and more anti-car; but of course, cars are driven by people who come to your borough and shop, spend money in restaurants (usually quite a lot too) and in the rest of the borough. Adding up my receipts from yesterday, including the parking, Cheltenham shops made £389 from me - and I was planning on coming back on Monday to finish Christmas shopping. Not now.

I know councils see drivers as a ready source of easy income, and I know that you're trying to discourage cars from the borough, but I'm damned if I'm struggling to carry a stack of parcels on a bus, packed in like cattle. £9 is now at the level, in my opinion, of extortion. If you added a little value I could stick it. Hell, even a free cup of coffee would be something, a tie-up with the local Starbucks to get me a quid off a latte, or some other discount scheme that would be revenue neutral for you. But you don't add any value whatsoever - and don't try to tell me about your wonderful car parking charter - that simply adds to my view that councillors and officers spend far too much time on things that don't matter, neglecting the things that do.

Sorry guys - you've killed this particular golden goose by being too greedy and too lazy. I'm going to Cirencester in future where a pal has an office carpark I can use. It's a shame as I like Cheltenham, but you've mugged one too many drivers this time. By the way - a lot of other people I spoke to at the car park said exactly the same thing.
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With all best wishes,

M

An example that might be worth copying when we feel abused. It's an excellent touch to copy such letters to the local press. It makes it FAR harder to ignore.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

I've just moved to Cheltenham, and I agree whole-heartedly. I used to pay 70p for 2 hours parking in the multi-story where I used to live, in Northants. Here, for the same amount of time, it's £3-something. Luckily, my partner has a University parking permit, so I use that, but otherwise, I would avoid the centre altogether and go somewhere else.

I know when I last paid to park there, I stuck enough for 2 hours in with a view to running back if I overstayed that, but in the end, I just didn't bother. I can imagine that this sort of behaviour is common, and no doubt it increases the council's coffers even further when such people are fined.

Insanity.

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Carl Prescott

What about the park and ride at the racecourse, or a bit of free parking at the new Waitrose.

And I don't recall the North Street?? car park being that expensive on my last visit.

Many of the short stay car parks are a rip off over four hours, but that's why they are called short stay. I'm sure I have had a full days shopping in Cheltenham for much less than 9 quid. (Parking that is... there's far too many nice shops there for the wife of a Scotsman!! )

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Fixed ideas are like cramp, for instance in the foot, yet the best remedy is to step on them.

Ian

Just done my shopping in Leicester city centre. Cost me £4 for 3 hours..

I try and stay away when I can. I usualy vote with my feet..

I suppose I can live with it once a year, but they have lost my custom the resto of the time.

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Speed camera policy Kills

There's no need for the rolleyes - like I just said, I have literally just moved here. I had no idea there was a park and ride, or even the foggiest where Waitrose is. The obvious, well-signed car parking is exactly as expensive as I described (well over £3 for 2 hours).

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Carl Prescott

I might have the wrong understanding of the rolleyes smiley Carl, I was trying to imply that I was being a little naughty in suggesting you should use a free supermarket carpark to do your other shopping.
I did a lot of Christmas shopping recently in Waitrose, so I feel they owe me that little privelege.

My sister and her family live in Bishops Cleeve, just outside Cheltenham, north of the racecourse, and they regularly use the park and ride. It's pretty reasonable.

On the other side of the coin, I regularly shop in Newcastle, and the car park prices at Eldon square seem to leap ridiculously every year. I think they are £1.50 per hour now or something like it. I agree entirely that it really makes you think about limiting the time you want to spend in town.

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Fixed ideas are like cramp, for instance in the foot, yet the best remedy is to step on them.

Ian

I try to work on the American principal

If you want my business you will give me somewhere to park.
If not I will go somewhere else...

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Speed camera policy Kills

Hey, snap - what are the chances of that, eh?

Oh, and the rolleyes smilie is normally used to imply sarcastic contempt. As in: aren't speed cameras a thoroughly excellent idea?



EDIT - Hold up a second - do my eyes deceive me, or are you a paid up member of this place now? Or does the 'M' badge come free with the police one?

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Carl Prescott

Pretty slim I'd say. My brother in law works in the do'nut.

Oops!, no wonder I sometimes get people's backs up!

As I explained to Paul, I might not agree with everything he says and argues, but I do agree with over 90% of it. I'm happy to help support someone who has road safety as the fundamental basis of his argument, and I believe that is true of Paul Smith. I admire his free thinking, and attention to detail in his analysis and conclusion, whether I completely agree or not! No matter how the authorities plan their road safety directives, they will always cast an eye towards a correctly motivated campaign group.

Also, I enjoy the banter,and it's cheaper than a TV licence.

I'd like to see more chip in a few quid!

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Fixed ideas are like cramp, for instance in the foot, yet the best remedy is to step on them.

Ian

I do this too. I go further and use the "vote in my wallet" with determination. I'm very happy to go out of my way to punish bad service, hassle or inconvenience. We'd have a better world if everyone did this.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Flattery indeed. Thank you kind sir.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

It certainly seems to be a general fact of life that councils impose extortionate parking fees.

Surely this is a short-sighted policy as it will simply encourage shoppers to use out-of-town centres that offer free parking.

A particular gripe is short-stay parking. I'm fortunate in that Stockport (the busiest shopping centre by value in Greater Manchester apart from Manchester City Centre and the Trafford Centre) offers two hours' parking within 5 minutes' walk of the town centre for 40p.

If other councils offered something similar they might well attract a lot of extra traffic.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Fortunately car parking in the suburbs around Melbourne is, for the most part, free. Most centres have properly constructed car parking areas but if you want to park in the street, right outside the shops, you have to pay $1-2 for an hour (40-80p).

One shopping centre charges for their car park but the fee is fairly reasonable, 20c for 4 hours. The 4 hours is to deter people from using it as an all day car park for work and to encourage people to come and shop there.

If you want to park in Melbourne city you can pay up to $13 an hour, or about 5 pound (no pound symbol on my keyboard) but there are some cheaper car parks provided by the city council for shoppers.

Generally car parking at major shopping centres is free and I'm sure that if they introduced a fee people would simply shop elsewhere.

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Ross

Yes I'm a hoon, but only on the track!!!!

I suppose you have a bit more space across there than we do on this little lump of rock. BTW, a work collegue has just secured himself a job in Melbourne, he's emigrating with his family in January - doesn't like paying our high parking charges I think he said

Telford has only recently introduced parking charges in the town centre - the fuss that was kicked up was incredible. Most of it came from the town centre employees who must now pay through the nose for a whole day, or park a bit further away. To be fair, they were occupying a large proportion of the available spaces close to the centre. Charges are quite reasonable otherwise, up to 30mins is free, 50p for 1 hour and so on.

I'm not so sure about the system they employ though. Basically you get a ticket from the barrier machine as you enter, the barrier opens to let you in. When you are ready to leave you stick your ticket in one of the pay machines dotted around and your ticket is validated as having been paid. You then have a set perioed of time to get to the exit barrier where you insert your ticket. Trouble is, if its honking down with the rain the ticket gets wet as you lean out of your car window, and the barrier machine won't accept it

And the technology keeps going tits-up as well, fortunately each machine has a button you press to contact 'carpark central' where some dis-embodied voice tries to help you with your problem.

The most expensive carpark I've used in the UK was York, £9 for 5 hours. Geez, at least the local lad Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask.