- Car envy
- Councils’ controlled parking issues
- En-suite parking space
- Leaving a warm car on cold days
- Swapping pompoms for podiums
- When more spaces mean less space
- Speeding motorists becoming rarer
- Unlucky registration plates
- Distracted driving during the summer
- Gone driving
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Monday, September 10, 2012
Councils’ controlled parking issues
Have you been finding it harder to locate a parking space you don’t have to pay for these past few months?
We wouldn’t be surprised to hear that you had, because not only are there more cars being bought every day in the UK, but one in five councils have reduced the number of free street parking spaces available to motorists.
Furthermore, many have increased the number of parking attendants, so more people are being caught out and having to pay fines for overstaying or parking illegally.
Now, we don’t have a problem with people receiving fines for doing something they shouldn’t be doing, but what we’re not happy with is that drivers have fewer and fewer suitable parking bays available to them.
What are road users meant to do? Where can they park if there’s nowhere appropriate?
Since councils began taking over parking enforcement from the police in 2008, they seem to have gradually been making it more difficult for drivers to park.
Both the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation and the director of the RAC Foundation believe that councils need to reassess how they are dealing with controlled parking so that it is a benefit to residents instead of a nuisance.
We agree with them and hope to see some change soon.
Photo © Philip Taylor PT via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
We wouldn’t be surprised to hear that you had, because not only are there more cars being bought every day in the UK, but one in five councils have reduced the number of free street parking spaces available to motorists.Furthermore, many have increased the number of parking attendants, so more people are being caught out and having to pay fines for overstaying or parking illegally.
Now, we don’t have a problem with people receiving fines for doing something they shouldn’t be doing, but what we’re not happy with is that drivers have fewer and fewer suitable parking bays available to them.
What are road users meant to do? Where can they park if there’s nowhere appropriate?
Since councils began taking over parking enforcement from the police in 2008, they seem to have gradually been making it more difficult for drivers to park.
Both the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation and the director of the RAC Foundation believe that councils need to reassess how they are dealing with controlled parking so that it is a benefit to residents instead of a nuisance.
We agree with them and hope to see some change soon.
Photo © Philip Taylor PT via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: attendants, bays, car, councils, driver, enforcement, fines, free, illegal, Metropolitan Police Federation, motorist, parking, police, RAC Foundation, space, street parking
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
When more spaces mean less space
In some UK town centres it can be quite difficult finding somewhere to park your car. I know I’ve had problems before when I’ve gone round and round for a while and then had to give up and search for roadside spaces down residential streets instead.
I don’t like parking up on a roadside next to someone’s home because I feel that I might be in the way. Obviously I don’t park in front of people’s driveways, but I always wonder if they look out of their window, see my vehicle sat there, and think ‘Now where’s Lucy going to park when she comes over today?’, or something similar.
Thankfully, many councils are trying to improve parking for motorists and are finding ways of increasing the number of bays available.
However, Leicester City Council recently showed everyone that creating new spaces isn’t as easy as you may have imagined.
Employing a contractor to paint new bays along a street, the council didn’t plan the work well enough and made a bit of a mess of it all.
Motorists found that when all the spaces were in use, there was only a gap a little under one metre left for drivers to fit through. Needless to say, you can’t fit a car through a gap of that size, and people were not pleased.
The mistake has since been rectified, and hopefully Leicester City Council will plan work better in the future…
I don’t like parking up on a roadside next to someone’s home because I feel that I might be in the way. Obviously I don’t park in front of people’s driveways, but I always wonder if they look out of their window, see my vehicle sat there, and think ‘Now where’s Lucy going to park when she comes over today?’, or something similar.
Thankfully, many councils are trying to improve parking for motorists and are finding ways of increasing the number of bays available.
However, Leicester City Council recently showed everyone that creating new spaces isn’t as easy as you may have imagined.
Employing a contractor to paint new bays along a street, the council didn’t plan the work well enough and made a bit of a mess of it all.
Motorists found that when all the spaces were in use, there was only a gap a little under one metre left for drivers to fit through. Needless to say, you can’t fit a car through a gap of that size, and people were not pleased.
The mistake has since been rectified, and hopefully Leicester City Council will plan work better in the future…
Photo © compujeramey via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence
Labels: bay, car, driveway, Leicester City Council, motorist, parking, roadside, space, town centre, UK, vehicle