I have to park at my local station (Norfolk) to get the train to work. I've just paid to renew annual parking, which is now run by NCP (they have taken it over from the train company, National Express East Anglia).
The cost has gone up by nearly 10%! Given the general rise in motoring costs of late, paying through the nose for parking wasn't appreciated.
I got a standard reply from NCP, fobbing me off and trying to justify the rise but it seems pretty extortionate to me. The train company doesn't want to know as they no longer run the car park. Who can I complain to? Is there a parking regulator or something similar?
Cheers,
Antony
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At Grantham (ex-GNER now National Express) they run the station car park @£10 a day or part thereof. An enterprising local who already owns the car park and leases it to them, built another one next door and charged £3 a day! It was such a success that he has upped it to £5 a day. When I go away for a 5 day break the car parking costs me more than a return ticket to Reading! Still, it is WAAAAAY cheaper than driving.
Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 19/05/2008 at 22:37
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How often does it go up at your station Anthony? I think Passenger Focus or whatever the former rail passenger councils are now called have taken an interest, particulalry on the then GNER bailiwick where car parking was being milked to meet the absurd targets the former franchise had signed up to.
At Northampton it's just gone up from £5.50 to £6.50, but first increase for two years or so. As a daily user I get a significant discount for quarterly or annual tickets.
They've expanded the car park twice in the last few years and are (notwithstanding the experience of one of HJ's recent correspondents) pretty tolerant of imaginative use of space. It's still full midweek. Not sure they're all rail users. They're committed to further expansion as well but need to occupy what is currently operational railway land or go multi storey to do so.
The season rates are competitive with the town centre car parks, and although on the edge of town the car park is level and much easier of access than the Council's long term multi storey thingies.
Edited by Bromptonaut on 19/05/2008 at 23:03
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Think yourself lucky. My station has just put its parking prices up for the second time this year, both times the increase was in price was 15%
They know that they can charge whatever they want, as there is no alternative to parking anywhere nearby, and the car park is overflowing every day.
What really highlights rip off nature of the charges is that I can park in any of the short term car parks right in the town centre for 30p per hour or walk 500 yards further where I can park for free for the whole day. However if I want to park at the railway station on the edge of the town 2 miles from the centre, it is £6.30 per day.
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The cost has gone up by nearly 10%!
But is it still cheap? How much is it now?
Edited by L'escargot on 20/05/2008 at 08:46
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It seems that the higher social or personal need to park, the more expensive it becomes!
In roughly ascending order:
A medium sized town introduces parking meters and wardens in the centre. Result: drivers flock to out of town supermarkets offering free parking. Town centre shops continue to die their death.
A large city (Nottingham) proposes to levy a tax on companies and/or employees for the privilege of parking at work. Possible long term result: companies threaten to move away, leading to economic downturn and unemployment, affecting everyone in the city.
A car driver living in a village drives 10 miles to the station in order to take a (much lower carbon footprint) train to work. (Obviously, car sharing, where possible, cuts this cost down significantly).
Family and friends visiting a hospital patient in long term care and are shocked at the daily/weekly cost of parking; no real alternatives in terms of public transport are currently on offer. Result: fewer visits to patient; patient feels sad and abandoned and actually takes longer to recover.
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Its simple these days. Motorists=Cash
The government will allow any scheme going to prise money out of motorists under the usual 'green' argument rubbish - including train station car parks.
Why do you think the boss of NCP has a multi-million pound yacht!
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Antony, could that be Diss station by any chance?
I used to have this problem at Audley End station a few years back. I found a pub about 5 mins walk from the station and agreed with the landlord to pay him so much a week to leave my car on his car park. Used to just bung the money in an envelope through his door every week. Only paid for the days I used the car park and saved well over 50% on the station's charges!
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If the government is serious about getting us off the roads, they should not allow train companies to charge for parking at stations. You could prevent non-rail users from abusing this free parking by giving a slip with the train ticket to leave in car windscreen showing you are using the train that day.
But of course the government is not really serious about getting us off the roads, they just want our money in any shape or form.
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We centralized our offices to a Business Park as parking was a joke in the three towns where we had offices. We still have a presence in all three places but all the admin moved to the middle, the two posts we shed along the way covers the rental of the new offices and our IT costs have reduced as well. To comply with the DDA our Landlords have given us two disabled bays (no public at the Office, no disabled staff), whilst ethically I agree with the need for bays, we have now lost 4 able bodied bays. I had to threaten a very able bodied staff member with discipline as she insisted on parking her van in one of these bays. They stand empty all week and some cars have to park on the narrow road.....
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Another thing I hate about station car parks is that the width of the parking bays is too narrow. Unless you drive a supermini there is a serious chance that you come back to find you can't get into your car as someone has hemmed you in.
This has happened to me before. Once I had to climb in through the near side rear door. An excellent way to ruin a suit!
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I'm still using a security patrolled, CCTV'd Zone 6 Underground station car park for £2 a day. I have no idea how much longer that will continue for.
Cheers
DP
Edited by DP on 20/05/2008 at 16:49
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That sounds absolutely ridiculous, PU - we certainly haven't got any disabled bays in my firm's Reading office, and we use all the ones we have. Is it just newly-built offices that have to have these?
You'd think that able-bodied people should be able to park in these bays provided that they agreed to move if a disabled person needed it (which of course they don't at your office).
Edited by Avant on 20/05/2008 at 22:49
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Yes, it is Diss station. I didn't want to give the name away, but well spotted!!
In response to other questions...
Bromptonaut - it seems to be annual, but only the second year I've been commuting in. I hope it doesn't go up 10% next year.
L'escargot - it's now £624.80 for the year.
I could understand high parking charges in London and other large cities where parking space is at a premium, but Norfolk is predominantly arable land with low population density. Btw, there aren't any buses which run to the station either - did look into that.
Just smacks of NCP greediness...
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it's now £624.80 for the year.>>
That's awful! From Googlemaps, there appear to be plenty of streets not too far away - have these all got restricted parking?
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From Googlemaps there appear to be plenty of streets not too far away - ............
What about the residents feelings on this matter? I'm just pleased I don't live somewhere that is used by all and sundry for free parking.
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L'escargot - it's now £624.80 for the year.
How does that compare with using your car? Be honest and include all costs, not just fuel costs. For example include the extra servicing for the extra mileage, extra wear and tear, and any parking charges when you get to your destination.
I could understand high parking charges in London and other large cities where parking space is at a premium but Norfolk is predominantly arable land with low population density.
It may be predominantly arable, but that's no argument. I've no doubt the owners want it to remain arable. That's part of their lifestyle and what provides them with income. Also no doubt they will want to hand it down to their offspring as arable land.
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Why do you think the boss of NCP has a multi-million pound yacht!
is it multi storey as well?.... :)
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Why on earth are people complaining about the car park operators, with lines like - they can charge what they want?
The basic fact seems they have overwhelming demand for their services, but can't easily expand much, due to maybe the local planning regulations?
Intrestingly HMRC has been taking councils to court over off street car parking relating to VAT. Councils don't have to account for VAT on on-street parking, since by law they are the only ones that can supply it. The Isle of Wight and other councils are fighting HMRC over off street parking. The councils are saying that it is outside the scope of VAT because there is no significant private sector competition in their localities.
This ties in to councils (well placed) belife that if they limit car parking by making very demanding planning regulations it will encourage people to use public transport and ease congestion, which is a laudable aim.
However it also means private car park operators facing overwelming demand, but no planning permission to expand. They private car park operators are doing as they should, maximising profits, whilst using the market mechanism (through pricing) to ration parking spaces.
The conclusions to the OP are - Don't blame your train operator over 'Excessive' charges, instead write to your local council. Explain to them you think you have a right to cheap motoring and should expand provision of parking. The council will write back explaining there are external costs to motoring that are not boune by the motorist - for example congestion. Councils are promoting a good social system here - would it not be better if we had an inclusive public transport system rather than all of us getting in our cars and each blocking up the roads that we are trying to use?
- Even better, don't write to your council over parking, write to your council saying why public transport to the train station is poor. If public transport should be encourageing motorists to cut down the external costs of the use of cars (like congestion), we should be subsidising it. Luckly HMRC is doing it's bit here - it zero rates public transport to VAT purposes.
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Just a thought- ride a scooter & park that at the station? They can usually park for free, and have enough storage for helmet, gloves & waterproofs.
BW,
Alex.
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This ties in to councils (well placed) belife that if they limit car parking by making very demanding planning regulations it will encourage people to use public transport and ease congestion which is a laudable aim.
No. What happens is more congestion is caused by people driving round and round looking for somewhere to park
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No. What happens is more congestion is caused by people driving round and round looking for somewhere to park
I would agree that this statement applies in car parks - but not to most streets. A reduction in car parking spaces in a city centre will other things being equal lead to a reduction in conjestion over time
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I would agree that this statement applies in car parks - but not to most streets. A reduction in car parking spaces in a city centre will other things being equal lead to a reduction in conjestion over time
And also a massive reduction of people actually using the city centre, leading to the city centre declining compared to out-of-town shopping centres.
I used to park on the outskirts of my local town centre, and walk in. However since they sold off most of the pay and display car parks for redevelopment, and that taking my family in on a bus costs around a tenner, I now use the out-of-town centre with free parking instead.
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Age Concern ought to have a look at this.
Respectable business person needs to park somewhere near the station and wants a deal. Someone elderly who has a driveway, could do with some extra cash, put the two together after a bit of vetting and both are happy.
Further plus might be car on drive to deter the people that prey on the elderly and steal their savings and at least twice a day on weekdays someone to 'look over' the elderly person e.g. check the milk's not still out.
Edited by Westpig on 05/08/2008 at 22:59
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Charging at station car parks is an absolute scandal when you stand back and look at the wider picture. £10 is a good incentive to drive instead, which is barmy when punitive charges are being introduced supposedly to discourage driving in the name of reducing emissions and congestion.
The railway franchisees have chosen to flog off the car parks to meet their commercial imperatives, not social needs, when what is really needed to get people on the trains is free car parks at stations and joined up public transport to get there - but everyone knows it's all a charade because there aren't enough locos and rolling stock. The whole thing is farcical, the fares are insane and the service is non-existent. A colleague travelling from Paris on Eurostar last week was decanted on to a train from London to Northampton from which half the carriages had been removed, along with half the pre-booked seats. AFAIK there were no refunds, just an hour standing for the unlucky suckers.
I apologise for adding nothing to the sum of human knowledge here - I'm as mad as hell about this.
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my s-i-l came to visit us recently and came by train. On the way back, having sat in a a pre-paid, booked seat, she couldn't get off at her station, because the train was too long. By the time she moved along the carriages, she was too late and missed the stop. Took her nearly 2 hours to return to that station. I'd have been spitting teeth. No apology, no comebacks, they couldn't care less.
Tring station in Buckinghamshire is well o/s of the town in a small village/hamlet...yet is hideously expensive to park at. It's in the middle of nowhere! What's that all about?
it's no wonder people choose to drive, if you try to use public transport and get treated like cattle or are plainly ripped off...
If any govt really wanted to ease congestion or apply 'green' issues they could quite easily, instead of doing so, they just rip us off with extra taxes.
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WP, did she have her ticket checked whilst on the train? If she did she should have been told that she's need to move, if she didn't then I'd suggest the TOC are at fault - I saw it happen to a couple on a train at Long Eaton that was too long and they got overcarried to Derby...
If neither of those things happened tell he to write to the TOC.
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Tring station in Buckinghamshire is well o/s of the town in a small village/hamlet...yet is hideously expensive to park at. It's in the middle of nowhere! What's that all about?
Property price in Tring is very high. So, council assumes that people living there can afford paying high parking charges ;)
In many towns/villages, people park in residential areas just to avoid parking charges. I've seen many times the residential areas are choked with cars while pay & display car park is nearly empty!
Only when people can't find a place in residential area, they are forced to park in paid area.
For that reason, when I visit somewhere, I try to reach there early so that I can grab a space in residential area.
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In many towns/villages people park in residential areas just to avoid parking charges. I've seen many times the residential areas are choked with cars while pay & display car park is nearly empty!
Yep - we live 3 minutes walk from the station - deliberately as my gf commutes on the train. A driveway was therefore a must have when choosing the house; with a school nearby as well, we'd never get parked otherwise.
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Manatee - couldn't agree more with your points (and don't get me started about the service on the trains themselves...)
The car park at Diss station is sufficiently far from the centre of town for most people not to park there to go shopping. I'm quite happy to pay to park at one of the council car parks (50p/ day) instead of parking in a residential street. If I go to Norwich, I use the park and ride, it's a couple of quid and very well run.
In response to some other comments:
L'escargot - you're absolutely right, £624.80 is much cheaper than all the costs of driving in. But if you add on the eye-wateringly expensive train fares as well...
mk124 - I would happily catch a bus to the station if there was one. I will write to my local council, but I'm not hopeful! Everybody's just too displaced - that's country living for you. (I used to live in London and used the bus/ tube all the time without need for a car.)
apm - I am seriously considering a scooter for precisely the reasons you mention.
Thanks for all the good points.
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