Residents parking charges | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Tue 3 Jun 2003 09:56

Residents parking charges - CM

SWMBO has just got her renewal form in and I was surprised to see that there has been a 70% (yes - seventy) increase over last years charge. It has gone up from £50 to £85.

Now normally I wouldn't mind but my council tax has had one of the biggest increases in the country.

For those of you who do have to pay for a residents permit, what sort of charges do you have? Just want to know so that I can either continue to grumble or not!

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Tue 3 Jun 2003 11:17

Residents parking charges - Soupytwist

In Chelmsford it's £16 for the first car and £32 if you have another.

They really stitch you up if you want to change cars, get a refund on the unused portion or if you let your permit lapse and then want another one for the same car a few months later.

We have two cars but only one has a permit because in the evenings and weekends there are alternatives to on street permit controlled parking and during the day the car is at work. We visitor permits for the times when that car is on the street during the day.

Matthew Kelly
No, not that one.

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Tue 3 Jun 2003 11:38

Residents parking charges - SjB {P}

In the vein of parking fees: My brother received a parking ticket yesterday. On going to the payment office to explain that he was infact registered disabled, and struggles to walk, he was then given a second ticket for the offence of failing to display his orange badge!

What a nice double whammy, especially given the blatant orange badge misuse that he and I see so often, and which rightly annoys.

On arguing this point, the payments officer pointed out that his tax disc gave no clue that the owner was disabled, and therefore he was going to impose the double fine. Sure enough, it doesn't - because he purchased the car second hand, with nearly a year's tax still to run, a few weeks ago. So, via a fine, he now knows that he's got to ask the DVLA for a new V5 with road fund exemption. The thought never occurred to him, as this is his first non-Motability car, but at least the refunded duty should cover the two tickets!

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Tue 3 Jun 2003 12:53

Residents parking charges - volvoman

Hi CM - did you get my e.mail message BTW ?

I think your experience could explain why our local authority is so keen to introduce permits here. Despite there being no real demand from residents the council drew up a massive scheme and tried to 'sell' it to us all promising that if there was no support it would be dropped. Well only 4 roads in the entire area were in favour but rather than drop the scheme they've decided to implement it in these roads. Despite the fact that they claim parking problems won't be displaced to other areas (utter rubbish IMO because that's bound to happen) I think they're hoping other streets will beging to suffer more parking problems and demand permits as a result. Hence the council gets its way eventually and has another grand scheme to justify its existance. Of course, once they've trapped you they can then increase the permit prices at the drop of a hat to raise extra revenue knowing that residents in such areas have little choice but to pay. Call me cynical but I can't help thinking it's just another tax by a different name !

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Tue 3 Jun 2003 13:05

Residents parking charges - teabelly

It is another tax but one has the option to either not have a car, or live in a house with off road parking which negates the need for a parking permit. It could be worse, we could be in switzerland where you are not allowed to even own a car unless you have off road parking available. The bottom line is that you have no legal right to park outside your house on a public highway. Any vehicle parked on the road for more than a few hours can be considered to be an obstruction. But most people do have a car and do expect to be able to park outside their own house so what do you do? Make it a legal right and put an end to battles between neighbours as you can put your car in your space. But then you would be limited to a car that you could fit in the width of your house without blocking others in and still being able to get your own vehicle out. Narrow roads would then be impassible so you would have to create exceptions or provide parking at the tax payers or users expense. So we're back full circle with wanting a contribution from the person that needs to park on the road. There is no easy answer.
teabelly

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Tue 3 Jun 2003 13:15

Residents parking charges - volvoman

We're lucky enough to live in a relatively affluent area comprised mainly of detached and semi detached houses most of which have sufficient off road parking for several cars yet the council still wants to introduce permit controls in areas that don't need them. Why is that ? Could it just be about money ?

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Tue 3 Jun 2003 13:33

Residents parking charges - CM

Volvoman - no I didn't get your e-mail!

My council charges £85 for the 1st car in your name and £400 for the second. (Fortunately if you are married that can be 1 each)

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