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I am off in an hour to visit friends whose road is in a CPZ. This operates Monday - Saturday, 06:00 - 18:00. Today being a bank holiday they wondered if they needed to use one of their visitor vouchers. After spending time yesterday searching the council website to no avail and eventually ringing them they were told bank holidays were treated like any other day. I remember car parks being free on bank holidays. There seems an attitude by councils of sting the motorist at every opportunity and it seems worse since they outsourced parking control to iffy parking companies.!
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I remember about 20 years ago, i went to Edgware to visit a friend, we went shopping by the Underground station and I parked where i thought i could legally. Warden putting ticket on car, and said controlled parking zone. when I said that signs said i could park, he agreed, but said controlled parking zone sign trumped them.
I wrote to barnet council to complain and appeal, ( overturned ) and vowed never to shop in Edgware again. A lot of people must be avoiding it, as Station road is a dogs dinner of low grade shops now.
Any CPZ should only be seen as a revenue raising operation. If i can't park at what i consider a fair price, I take my custom elsewhere...
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For all the frustration (which I fully understand) you surely have to start by asking what problem a CPZ aims to address.
In the vicinity of an outer London Tube station, particularly a terminus like Egdware or Stanmore, it's commuters and shoppers. They go off into London leaving their cars on residential streets to the considerable inconvenience of local residents. We have a similar problem here in Northampton where people bound for the fast trains to London drive in off the M1 or from surrounding dormitory villages. The station car park costs so they leave their cars in nearby streets.
Eventually the Council makes the whole area a CPZ with permits.
Free on Sundays and Bank Holidays was a product of low demand. Forty years ago all the shops were closed on Sunday and most Bank Holidays. Roll on to today and it's just another day - only exception is Easter Sunday.
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Well here I am parked on a near deserted street displaying a visitor's permit. The CPZ was introduced because of a problem with commuters. However, it was never a problem at weekends. I suspect train use will be limited this weekend anyway because of engineering works.
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I'm sure you're right and the original problem was commuters and quieter at weekends/public hols.
The Council however will say there is potential demand at other times, sporting events, concerts and stuff like that. Another is engineering work; I wonder how much this weekend's closure of Euston will drive up demand in Stanmore?
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The Council however will say there is potential demand at other times, sporting events, concerts and stuff like that. Another is engineering work; I wonder how much this weekend's closure of Euston will drive up demand in Stanmore?
Not necessarily - for people using the Tube (Northern Line), the nearby stations are close enough to use them instead and walk, for train commuters, the drive down to North London is a pain and, as has been said (I used to leave nearby both Stanmore and Edgware for 30 years) the plethora of CPZs and expensive station/municipal car parks means it's not worth it. It's often better to drive east/west and get on a surface train on another line - much more chance of getting a parking space, even a free one.
That or brave the replacement bus service (eek!).
I wonder where the WCML will stop when Euston is closed - probably one of the bigger train/tube combo stations so travellers can easily continue their journey, like Thameslink did when the St. Pancras stations were being built/rebuilt (terminating at West Hampstead).
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I wonder where the WCML will stop when Euston is closed - probably one of the bigger train/tube combo stations so travellers can easily continue their journey, like Thameslink did when the St. Pancras stations were being built/rebuilt (terminating at West Hampstead).
Some services yesterday were using Harrow and Wealdstone with Bakerloo connections to Paddington. Same on Monday. Today and tomorrow nothing south of MK.
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I remember about 20 years ago, i went to Edgware to visit a friend, we went shopping by the Underground station and I parked where i thought i could legally. Warden putting ticket on car, and said controlled parking zone. when I said that signs said i could park, he agreed, but said controlled parking zone sign trumped them.
I wrote to barnet council to complain and appeal, ( overturned ) and vowed never to shop in Edgware again. A lot of people must be avoiding it, as Station road is a dogs dinner of low grade shops now.
Any CPZ should only be seen as a revenue raising operation. If i can't park at what i consider a fair price, I take my custom elsewhere...
Edgware's been a dump (sorry to anyone currently living there) for decades and not somewhere you'd want to regularly use a car - to be fair, for most of North London, you don't really have much need of a car as public transport covers most travelling options.
It's often better for those visiting people in London to park up in an outlying surface train station within the 6 main travelcard zones and travel in using public transport as required. You greatly benefit from the cheaper travelcard fares compared to outside zone 6.
The problem comes as more councils in outlying areas cotton onto this and start introducing CPZs in their area, even outside of the areas around train stations, all the while the stations charge around £10 per day, never mind the extortionate charges at NCP car parks further in.
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My son was visiting a friend in Hendon two weeks ago. He parked from Friday afternoon till Sunday evening and on Sunday afternoon was given a ticket. He looked at the roadside notice which said no parking between 1pm and 6pm on 'event days' but there was indication of what an event day was or when.
I asked around and everyone said that it was a council ruse to make money. The events are never listed so you are always going to get ticketed. Why should I visit London?
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On the rare occasions that we go up to London I use "Justpark" and rent a driveway, usually in the Clapham area as we live down the A3. A few stops on the tube and you are in the middle of London. We rented a spot last weekend in fact for a wedding. 48 hours cost us £30 with a £10 Uber into and out of Westminster. Normally our preferred Clapham spot costs £6.50 for the day.
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Why should I visit London?
Only if you can get there on public transport cheaply the whole way, you get free/cheap parking (very rare nowadays for more than 2-3 hrs [use retail park car parks]) or you can find somewhere within the 6th travelcard zone (often around/just outside the M25 ring) where free/cheap(er) parking is a bit easier to find and less of a hassle to get there (traffic-wise).
Occasionally some train stations out of the main6 travelcard zones can still be worth using as a low-priced 'park & ride' facility, but it often depends on the town/council area as to whether parking facilities are reasonable, as well as the trains ok to use - i.e. plentiful enough when you need to use them (some are fine in the rush hour but have little services out of those periods).
Even out as far as where I live in Royston, on the Herts/Cambs county border we now have CPZs, with the council thinking of extending them because residents from the villages 1-3 stops down northwards find its no more expensive to dive down and get the train here, even using the (expensive, well over £1k pa) station car park. Many try and park down local roads, hence why the council is thinking of extending the scheme outwards.
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The Bishops Avenue (the side that leads uphill to Hampstead Lane & Kenwood House is FREE parking all day long (when you've found a space beyond the multitude of builder's vans mainly down the bottom-end)! Walk back down to the A1, cross at lights, then walk to the other (far) end of TBA and you'll find East Finchley underground (Northern Line to either the Charing Cross or Bank line-split) just around the corner to the left.
It's 5-mins+ walk to the tube-station depending on how far up TBA you leave your motor.
Did it yesterday after driving-in from MK. Off-peak fare for each of us was £5.60 return (2 x £2.80). That's East Finchley to Embankment to Sloane Square using either Oyster or Contactless – it's the same price. Off-peak is 09:30 to 16:00, then from 19:00 onwards.
Piece of *** ...
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The Bishops Avenue (the side that leads uphill to Hampstead Lane & Kenwood House is FREE parking all day long (when you've found a space beyond the multitude of builder's vans mainly down the bottom-end)! Walk back down to the A1, cross at lights, then walk to the other (far) end of TBA and you'll find East Finchley underground (Northern Line to either the Charing Cross or Bank line-split) just around the corner to the left.
It's 5-mins+ walk to the tube-station depending on how far up TBA you leave your motor.
Did it yesterday after driving-in from MK. Off-peak fare for each of us was £5.60 return (2 x £2.80). That's East Finchley to Embankment to Sloane Square using either Oyster or Contactless – it's the same price. Off-peak is 09:30 to 16:00, then from 19:00 onwards.
Piece of *** ...
Good luck getting to The Bishops Ave in the (now very long) rush hour periods: very heavy traffic most of the time in North London. Still, free parking...
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Agreed, though this was 09:30 midweek during school holidays, so absolutely fine.
We generally really only bother at weekends when it's similarily quiet, but, yes, worth any hassle for the 'cheapness'!
I used to do a bit of business in Islington and if I left there at 17:00 it could take an hour just to get up to the North Circular!!
Then. of course, there's the M1/M25 northbound merging after J6 – always troublesome at peak-times!!!
Driving, eh ...
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My son was visiting a friend in Hendon two weeks ago. He parked from Friday afternoon till Sunday evening and on Sunday afternoon was given a ticket. He looked at the roadside notice which said no parking between 1pm and 6pm on 'event days' but there was indication of what an event day was or when.
I asked around and everyone said that it was a council ruse to make money. The events are never listed so you are always going to get ticketed. Why should I visit London?
A quick check on Barnet Council's website suggests event days are those when Saracens are playing at Allianz Park. There should be temporary signage on match days to draw attention to restriction and to demarcate areas where permits are required. I suspect that if he parked on Friday the signage was not in place as it will only be wheeled out on day of match.
He can always try appealing if he can demonstrate the signage fell below the expected standard. OTOH he may prefer to take the discount and pay up early rather than have a punt and risk having to pay full penalty if he's found liable.
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Not every council does this. Mine - Lambeth is fine with bank holidays and also most of the CPZs are only Mon to Friday 830-630. There are spots in the West End to park that I know but I’m not saying exactly where. City of London has free parking after 11am on a Saturday, Islington is after 1.30pm on Saturday. So it is doable. Plus car ownership has gone down significantly in most of Zone 1-2 so parking in side streets is easier than it was 10-15 yrs ago.
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Not every council does this. Mine - Lambeth is fine with bank holidays and also most of the CPZs are only Mon to Friday 830-630. There are spots in the West End to park that I know but I’m not saying exactly where. City of London has free parking after 11am on a Saturday, Islington is after 1.30pm on Saturday. So it is doable. Plus car ownership has gone down significantly in most of Zone 1-2 so parking in side streets is easier than it was 10-15 yrs ago.
Isn't that because the traffic is bad and there's also the high cost of the Congestion charges in Central London? Not exactly safe/secure parking on many streets in more central and South London areas.
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Around the turn of the century I lived in London in a truck (ex-BT workshop converted to a motorhome) for a year or two, parking for free in, for example, Kings Cross(!) and Finsbury Park.
The times they have a-changed.
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Around the turn of the century I lived in London in a truck (ex-BT workshop converted to a motorhome) for a year or two, parking for free in, for example, Kings Cross(!) and Finsbury Park.
The times they have a-changed.
Indeed they have, before and around the same time frame i drove car transporters all over and around london including the very centre, anything up to 4 days a week, always found somewhere sensible if not technically legal to park a 60ft long vehicle and still had room to get cars on and off the back, and never picked a parking ticket up that i can recall.
These days those doing the job say if you don't pick up a ticket every visit you are extremely lucky, and that's if you haven't had to park hundreds of yards from the rental site you are supposed to be delivering to.
However the difference in those few years is not just the disappearance of common sense, but the disappearance of real traffic wardens who used discretion, and who weren't paid on piece work, somewhere awkward i'd always ask a passing traffic warden nicely if i was ok there, almost without exception the reaction was positive.
Edited by gordonbennet on 22/04/2019 at 08:00
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Edinburgh Council did a "consultation" exercise prior to introducing controlled parking at my flat in Dalry, asking "Would you support it" and "Would you support it if you were otherwise just outside a control zone" (when you'd be swamped by refugees seeking free parking).
I said I would not, since the none-too-subtle threat of the latter case could be extended indefinately to take the control zone out to the city limits. Better to have difficulty parking in your area than never be able to park for free anywhere ever again.
Somewhat surprisingly, that was the majority view, so they said they'd have to "reconsider the proposal".
I took that to mean "Wait a bit and do it anyway." My brother tells me they waited a bit and did it anyway.
THE MAN may go through the motions, but he's still THE MAN.
Edited by edlithgow on 23/04/2019 at 11:54
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If--as hopefully seems to be a slow trend-everybody stops owning cars and working from home( less commuting), then council coffers will be in deficit due to nobody using their car parks?
Stand by for steep rise in council tax?
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