£4.10 to park Campervan in North Yorks area. (1 Viewer)

[jacobus]

North Yorkshire Towns and Village parking

I think the following warning is worth publishing for the information of Motorhome and Campervan users who plan to visit the North Yorkshire /West Yorkshire areas especially those who plan to use their vehicles to follow the Tour de France.
Visiting Skipton in the North Yorkshire area the town has three car parks, 1) Height restricted, near Tesco, 2) Off the main Street, large marked areas for parking only Buses, 3) Coach Street Car Park near the Canal.
Parking bays are approximately 16 ft long so if you have a vehicle that length all is well. My Campervan is 19ft long but having chosen Coach Street as the one least busy I parked there but with almost 3ft jutting into the space behind, leaving room for a small car. On returning to the vehicle, having previously paid for 2 hours at £2.10 there was the dreaded PCN for £50.00 attached to the windscreen because the vehicle was not parked within the marked bays, it was in a marked bay but as stated above intruded into the one behind. OK so technically correct, but there are no warnings regarding longer vehicles, there are no marked pitches for longer vehicles but as a local said " Farmers with trailers or Horse boxes had this problem until common sense was applied", Skipton is a Market Town.
On challenging the PCN it turns out I should have bought two parking tickets one of which would have covered the 3ft into the box behind, so parking would have cost me £4.20 for 2 hours :Angry: as against £2.10 for a car which I do not consider a fair deal and as will be seen below somewhat short sighted on the part of the Council. The same rule applies also in nearby Settle, Hawes, Harrogate and other Towns and Villages in the area covered by Parking Services at Harrogate.
The growth of the Motorhome Industry is given as an excuse for no large parking bays, just where have these people been we have been Motorhoming since 1968 as have others but bureaucrats will be bureaucrats.
The above PCN was even more galling as the Civil Enforcement Officer (splendid title for a car park attendent) was standing at a pay machine barely 20ft from where I parked the vehicle and nothing was said. I appreciate that these 'Officers' are not employed for their commonsense but the quote
" Rules are for the guidance of wise men/woman (got to be PC) and the obedience of fools" comes to mind.
Most Campsites/CL's are well out of Towns/Villages and the infrastructure in this area is poor to non existent so owners will use their vehicles with probably the same result.
Just in case you find this difficult to believe a copy of the refusal is below. A definite blow for Tourism when the Europeans come next year, if they do.
Jacobus

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT ACT 2004, PART 6
PENALTY CHARGE NOTICE NUMBER 09/08/2013
LOCATION OF CONTRAVENTION: Coach Street Car Park, Skipton
I refer to your e mail regarding the above penalty charge notice. The penalty charge notice was correctly served as your vehicle was not parked completely within the marked bays. As your vehicle was using two bays the purchase of a second ticket at the time would have covered both bays.
Using one bay only one ticket would be required so using two would require two tickets. The growth of the motorhome has been such that few car parks have the bays large enough to take them though as above two tickets would have sufficed for two bays. The penalty was served for parking beyond bay markings which is what had occurred.
Parking Administrator
01423 556611 / 556957
parkingservices@harrogate.gov.uk

 

[Ber090]

Jacobus, You need to remember that all the Councils in N Yorks believe that any tourist is there to be fleeced and also residents. The same councils complain about empty shops in our market towns because we refuse to pay parking charges but we are an easy touch to them. They will blame central government for budget cuts but frankly they are quite inept. Shame they have never run a proper business! Role on France next week to experience a totally different attitude to tourism.
Cheers
Bernie:thumb:

 

[pappajohn]

Jacobus, You need to remember that all the Councils in [STRIKE][HI]N Yorks[/HI][/STRIKE] the uk believe that any tourist is there to be fleeced and also residents. The same councils complain about empty shops in our market towns because we refuse to pay parking charges but we are an easy touch to them. They will blame central government for budget cuts but frankly they are quite inept. Shame they have never run a proper business! Role on France next week to experience a totally different attitude to tourism.
Cheers
Bernie:thumb:

appropriately edited :thumb:

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[iandsm]

Parking

It's a pity there were no longer bays available for motorhomes but if you take up two bays, surely you pay for to bays, it was obvious that two bays were being occupied because of the overhang, the rear bay was not usable by another vehicle. There would be clear signs at the ticket machine saying you must park within the marked bays and even if these were not noticed it could not have been more obvious. In this case the motorhomer tried it on by buying only one ticket.

Sorry if it sounds harsh but just because it would be more expensive to buy two tickets, that's no reason to only buy one in the hope of getting away with it.

 

[bigfoot]

Whats going to happen next year when T'Tour caravan arrives in Yorkshire?

 

[GJH]

Whats going to happen next year when T'Tour caravan arrives in Yorkshire?

No problem - I'm pretty sure all bays in all car parks are big enough to leave a bike in

Seriously, though, we have to remember that many of the car parks in the UK were designed and built several decades ago when motorhome usage was much less and when cars themselves were generally rather smaller. As a result many car parks are difficult (even dangerous) to navigate in a large vehicle. In addition, because they were designed for smaller vehicles the construction is sometimes incapable of withstanding sustained usage by vehicles heavier than two tonnes.

Car parks are also generally designed with shoppers, commuters and car based tourists in mind - all of which groups far outweigh the relatively small number of motorhome owners who want to park in car parks - so local authorities are bound to give a higher priority to their needs.

In addition, virtually every council in the UK has a parking page (with contact details) on its web site so every one of us has the opportunity to check before we park.

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[teddybard]

It's a pity there were no longer bays available for motorhomes but if you take up two bays, surely you pay for to bays, it was obvious that two bays were being occupied because of the overhang, the rear bay was not usable by another vehicle. There would be clear signs at the ticket machine saying you must park within the marked bays and even if these were not noticed it could not have been more obvious. In this case the motorhomer tried it on by buying only one ticket.

Sorry if it sounds harsh but just because it would be more expensive to buy two tickets, that's no reason to only buy one in the hope of getting away with it.

[HI]Spoken like a local government officer-[/HI] cast off the public , they only pay the bills and who needs trade in the struggling towns as long as the council draw their own fat salaries.

 

[duane0001]

When I park I always take my number plates and tax disc away with me

 

[GJH]

[HI]Spoken like a local government officer-[/HI] cast off the public , they only pay the bills and who needs trade in the struggling towns as long as the council draw their own fat salaries.

What total rubbish. The vast majority of local government officers pay parking charges like anyone else. the only ones who don't are those who have to use their cars for work (and they even sometimes pay then).

Trade in struggling towns is nothing to do with parking charges. It's about time people realised/admitted that the demise of town centres can be laid at the door of housing policies of several decades ago, combined with the fact that landlords refuse to admit that the value of their retail properties has fallen over the years?

Town centres grew up because businesses opened in the places where people lived - i.e. where people found it convenient to shop. Look at any trade directory of the late 19th/early 20th century and you will see how many more small shops were located in residential areas than even 50 years ago. The demise of town centres started when councils (run by all political parties) demolished town centre housing and replaced it with out of town estates rather than allowing the building of new housing in the town centre. It was that, combined with the increase in vehicle ownership, which encouraged businesses to locate in out of town areas.

A further factor is that town centre landlords continue to expect to be able to obtain high rents for their retail units. We have a case in point locally of a butcher (Newboulds, owned by Country Valley Foods) - see HERE - which is not renewing the lease on a town centre property because of the combination of high rents and the fact that far more customers use its suburban shops (located close to where they actually live).

Campaigns like "Reinventing the High Street" (Daily Telegraph) & the "Portas Pilots" and attacks on town centre motoring policies are simply wasteful distractions which ignore the truth.

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[Bluemerle]

Sorry cant see why you are complaining, as already said, if you take up 2 bays you pay for 2 bays. It states on their terms that you must pay for 2 bays if you exceed the marked area.

In the car park in Hawes if you back into a bay along the back or far side, then your overhang is over the grass and you only pay for the one bay.

 

[laneside]

Move to France each and every town and village has free parking and lots of room for our 7.7 metre van

Graham I must disagree with you to some degree, just to nip in the post office or a quick trip into the market hall and it is 60 pence to park in Todmorden and so many locals are boycotting it.

 

[iandsm]

Parking

[HI]Spoken like a local government officer-[/HI] cast off the public , they only pay the bills and who needs trade in the struggling towns as long as the council draw their own fat salaries.

What utter, ill reasoned, non thought out drivel. I am not a local government officer and never have been. What I am is a realistic motorhomer who is aware of his surroundings and is prepared to pay for parking spaces and facilities I use and who does not think it's alright to expect to get a cheeky freebie or reduced fee and then whinge about getting caught out.

Your reply is not made more effective by being in large red text.

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[GJH]

Move to France each and every town and village has free parking and lots of room for our 7.7 metre van

Graham I must disagree with you to some degree, just to nip in the post office or a quick trip into the market hall and it is 60 pence to park in Todmorden and so many locals are boycotting it.

Do the same people who object to paying 60p for parking also object to paying for petrol/diesel Alan, or wear & tear on the vehicle?

Also, if car parking were to be free how much extra would have to be added to the council tax to fund the upkeep of the car parks? If car parking were to be free would it even be possible for shoppers to park or would the car parks be clogged up with commuters?

We decided to go into Stockton for the market today and it cost 50p for parking - in a privately owned car park, not council. Should that company have reduced its profits to provide free parking?

 

[sedge]

By far the most expensive carparks in our town, are at the hospital. We are 7.6 miles away or 7.2 if we go on the M6. Yes we could go by bus, it would take about an hour and a half on a good day. Even our daughter who lives about what - a mile and a half away as the crow flies (about 3 miles to walk, so not really all that 'on') it takes about an hour by bus, as she has to come into the city centre and then back out again same as we do. Potty.

it's a captive clientele, isn't it? :shout: