Author Topic: Car parking charges - what is reasonable?  (Read 798 times)

richardh1905

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Car parking charges - what is reasonable?
« on: 08:42:58, 02/08/18 »

Came across an article on the WalkHighlands site highlighting plans to increase parking charges in Arrochar from £1 to £9.


Now I don't mind on occasion paying a few quid, say £4, at a particularly popular spot to park my car for the day, but this is taking things too far - Rip Off Britain at it's worst, as far as I am concerned.


How much would you pay?
« Last Edit: 11:44:07, 02/08/18 by richardh1905 »
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Islandplodder

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Re: Car parking charges - what is reasonable?
« Reply #1 on: 08:58:18, 02/08/18 »
That is pushing it, wouldn't pay that much. Especially when it has jumped by so much in one go.  I think 5 quid would be my limit, but generally I object to paying for parking when out of town, and usually go to some lengths to avoid it.

April

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Re: Car parking charges - what is reasonable?
« Reply #2 on: 08:58:34, 02/08/18 »
This does seem to be a bit steep. I think most car parks in the LD are about £7 for a days parking these days? I don't have a car now so I'm not up to date with what they charge.
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Ridge

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Re: Car parking charges - what is reasonable?
« Reply #3 on: 09:04:18, 02/08/18 »
This is a tricky one. Parking is expensive where ever you go in towns or in the countryside and it is a way of making money from walkers who otherwise may spend very little in the local community. But if they charge too much they will just push people in to parking on the road side.
I would pay £7.50 for a days parking.

Islandplodder

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Re: Car parking charges - what is reasonable?
« Reply #4 on: 09:17:25, 02/08/18 »

If you are going to push parking charges that high, I think you need to make it clear what the money is being used for.
To get on my own particular hobby horse, if public transport was better and cheaper, there wouldn't be so much pressure on parking.

harland

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Re: Car parking charges - what is reasonable?
« Reply #5 on: 09:42:32, 02/08/18 »
I would probably pay whatever the cost if I wanted to walk and leave my car somewhere relatively safe.  Obviously there must be an upper limit as how much I would pay as clearly I wouldn't pay £100!

However I see that whilst the costs are going up there is an hourly rate as well that maybe cheaper if only going for a few hours:-

"Argyll & Bute Council has announced its intention to increase car parking charges in Arrochar, at the head of Loch Long. The proposed increase will take the hourly charge from 30 pence to £1 and the rate for the full day from £1 to £9."

For information Leeds station short stay car park charges £35 for up to 3 hours - now that is what I call excessive!  The long stay charges are £12 for up to 6 hours - if you can find a place!  P.S. I don't use either!

fernman

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Re: Car parking charges - what is reasonable?
« Reply #6 on: 10:22:53, 02/08/18 »
While I might grudgingly pay to park to visit an attraction or whatever, there is no way I would pay to leave my car somewhere while I went for a walk.

Most of my day walks are circular ones in the Chilterns and copied from guidebooks. If one starts from a town where I would have to pay to park, I simply leave my car somewhere else around the route and start from there instead.

It's similar on my multiple-day walks in North Wales. My last one started from Beddgelert where the car parks were £5 a day (and no chance of me returning to pay each day) but it was no trouble to leave my car on the outskirts of the village.

gunwharfman

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Re: Car parking charges - what is reasonable?
« Reply #7 on: 11:19:11, 02/08/18 »
I will drive miles to avoid a parking charge!

My routine is, when at home, if I need to go somewhere like Winchester for example, is to throw my bike in the back of my car, park in a street on a housing estate, then cycle into the city center. Free!

Some people do the same thing but use roller blades instead!

If I decide to use my car to visit say the Lakes, I will seek out a free spot somewhere!

If I pay my price limit is £1!

alan de enfield

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Re: Car parking charges - what is reasonable?
« Reply #8 on: 11:43:17, 02/08/18 »
I know it is not a direct comparison, but :

We were out sailing the last couple of weeks, decided to pull into a marina in Plymouth for a couple or three nights, to re-stock, etc etc.
The 'parking fee' was £60 per night.

£30-£40 per night is not uncommon on the East Coast

pdstsp

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Re: Car parking charges - what is reasonable?
« Reply #9 on: 11:46:08, 02/08/18 »
Worst I've come across is the drop off charge at Liverpool Airport - £3 to drop somebody - takes less than 30 seconds!!


Walking - I use a lot of NT car parks and this normally pays my membership for the year.  LDNPA car parks are quite a few quid - I think £7 is about the going rate for a day.  And there's still a lot of free car parking dotted about the lakes - overall I don't think of it as a major spend as I use a mix of the above, so only pay for parking occasionally.  Ridge makes a good point - a lot of people will drive in, park, walk and then leave and the only money spent is parking - I do this myself on occasion so I tend not to begrudge the parking fee.  However a rise from £1 to £9 is a big rise to swallow if you park there a lot!

jimbob

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Re: Car parking charges - what is reasonable?
« Reply #10 on: 12:36:55, 02/08/18 »
I know it is not a direct comparison, but :

We were out sailing the last couple of weeks, decided to pull into a marina in Plymouth for a couple or three nights, to re-stock, etc etc.
The 'parking fee' was £60 per night.

£30-£40 per night is not uncommon on the East Coast
Marinas are quite different tough as they usually have the facility to hook up to power and water. I know not all but most that I' ve visited. The fact that you personally may not want to use those facilities is neither here nor there, they gave been paid for anyway.

Too little, too late, too bad......

 

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