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On one hand i dont feel its right for people to park on private land, i happen to live in a place where people think its ok to park on my driveway from time to time if the adjacent car park is full, i know how difficult it is getting such ignorant t*****s moved, police arent interested as its not public highway and despite the fact its very obvious that its a residential address and nothing to do with the adjacent car park and the 4 foot sign is right beside that clearly stating its residents parking, i do support any move to make it easier for land owners and tenants to get cars moved off them.
However, the flip side to that is i dont feel hospitals should be charging for parking of any sort. I know they all claim they are not for profit and all money raised goes purely into the running of the car parks the fact the NHS received £102billion in Government funds last year you'd think that could pay for somewhere to park also wouldnt you? Especially as its free in Wales. And in most cases regular visitors to hospitals can receive permits to park and disabled badge holders are free also. Personally i'd run a system where during your hospital visit someone at reception or in administration gives you a pass card of some sort which you produce on exit to prove you were there for an appointment or as visiting, failure to do so resulting in a charge, this would weed out people who use the hospital car park as somewhere to park whilst they do some shopping. Although the security, parking attendants etc all has to be paid for somewhere by somebody, but i wouldnt be surprised if most NHS hospitals are paying over the odds for the service they're getting from them. As a multi hour stay can run to £20 odd where as in a normal car park just up the road, not connected to a hospital its £8. So theres a difference to be attended to there.
And the fact is if more and more people are not paying these charges, or giving them £5 instead of the £80 owed as mentioned above, the company will bill the NHS for it, who then have to find it in their budget, a budget soon to be slashed, which then goes back to the Government, which then results in this bill.
Supermarkets i think is different, a private company in themselves should be in charge of their own car park and not employing somebody else to do it. Most of them are free to stay in, some have a 2 hour stay before a fee is incurred and then its on a pay and display basis. Usually its the supermarket themselves which want these charges as it stops non-supermarket visitors using their car parks, taking up spaces for people who do want to shop there, and driving them away. A very reasonable point of view i suppose.
I think the system should work in a way where if you are on those premises for the purpose for which it is intended (to visit the supermarket in question etc) then it should be free, if you are abusing the facilities (ie parking your car at the hospital to pop down to the betting shop) then you should have to pay for it. The easiest way to impliment such a system is if the establishment in question runs the car park instead of getting someone else to do it.
But the bottom line is, for years the Government has been trying to stop people driving, with high fuel taxes, VED increases, VAT increases etc, plans which have drained the motorists wallet but hasnt succeeded in forcing them off the road, so now they're going to do their best to give you nowhere to park instead.
Shared space schemes, car parks removed, pedestrianised zones, sky high parking fees, cycle lanes where parking spaces could be etc etc, thats the ugly future.
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