Free parking will be introduced at a struggling shopping centre to boost trade.Hurra…
Oh:
Bosses at the Victoria, in Southend, have announced the mall’s multi-storey car park will be free for three hours on Wednesdays and Thursdays from late September until early December.Six hours a week? That’s it?
Currently, 45 of the 79 shops stand empty.They’ll be lucky to find a shop to spend ten minutes in, then!
Of course, what will happen is they will use the three free hours to shop in the High Street instead…
Jonathan Poole, the Vic-toria’s director, said he expected the scheme to attract more shoppers to the centre. He added: “Our free parking scheme is one way in which we can reward shoppers who have helped the centre to continue to perform well, despite the current difficult economic climate.Dream on!
“We hope the scheme will also support our tenants and their businesses.”
John Lamb, Tory deputy leader of Southend Council, said he would “love” to replicate the scheme elsewhere, “because it encourages shopping and helps businesses”.I suppose you could start by not building useless, unpopular shopping malls in the first place?
But he added: “The problem is car park revenue is a major source of income for the council, and without it we would have to make cuts elsewhere.”
No?
Didn't think so, somehow...
Shopping mall development; isn't that one of the favourite ways for the Mafia to launder ill-gotten gains?
ReplyDeleteGiven the heavy-handed enforcement of local by-laws by some local councils, it is hard to tell them apart.
Funny, that. When they introduce parking restrictions, the lie is usually that they are being imposed, not to make money, but because there would be chaos without them.
ReplyDeleteOf course, only an imbecile believes them. Ever. About anything.
Behind the Liebour party's dash to tax and regulate people to an early grave in this country, there was the whole business of allowing councils to make money whenever they could.
ReplyDeleteCouncils got used to the idea of imposing charges here and raising revenue there, piling financial pressure on the luckless citizen in a variety of ways. Car owners were a natural target, so in came more yellow lines and 'pay and display' zones to strangle commerce in town centres. At the same time, councils began to reward themselves with fat pay packets and golden benefits so they could drive even bigger cars to get to work and park in those shiny new enlarged car parks council offices began to acquire...
But business and job creation, in the true spirit of Socialism, can go hang when there are rules to be enforced. Be grateful, Southend, for your six hours of 'free' parking because there will be, waiting in the wings, a small army of 'enforcement officers' to plaster tickets on your car the moment the clock ticks past happy hour.
In the town where I live, one car park (just out of the centre) used to allow 30 minutes free parking, which was ideal, as the car park was close to my bank branch ..
ReplyDeleteThat has now been abolished, which means paying for a whole hour, even though one might only use 10 minutes .. and the ticket is not tranferrable to other car parks in the town, despite being run by the same council ..
Nor is one permitted to "give" unused time to another driver, as the digits of your registration have to be entered when buying a ticket ..
Rip-off Labour bastards !
Capt Haddock, why do you put the digits in on your parking ticket?
ReplyDeleteThe town where I live has one of those machines also - I generally only pay for parking if one of the hi-vis jacketed nazis are about. I reckon not paying for parking on your own patch is a risk worth taking. At a £1 a week, that is £52 a year. If you get two tickets a year you have broken even.
Back to the digits. Will the parking nazis give you a ticket for an incorrect reg no.? I doubt it and even if they did I reckon it's worth a challenge especially if the digits entered on the machine are P1550FF.
Mr Poole reacted angrily to shoppers who branded his offer as blatant false generosity.
ReplyDelete"I should worry that customers will kvetsh. And to think these schmucks are breathing air my company conditioned for free, already."
@ Henry ..
ReplyDeleteBecause there's no choice ..
The digits have to be entered before paying for the ticket, the machine will not issue a ticket without them ..
And yes, I do know someone who got a parking enforcement ticket for entering his reg no as "000" ..
BTW, the cost of parking is £1 per hour .. not £1 per week ..
“The problem is car park revenue is a major source of income for the council, and without it we would have to make cuts elsewhere.” said some fool with a desk at the town hall.
ReplyDeleteThing is... how much of this revenue gets spent on the local people/services or infrastructure as opposed to being 'reinvested' back into the supporting bureaucracy, collection and enforcement of your own town's parking schemes?
In a great many cases you'll find that what they are taking with one hand, they are not giving much back with the other.
Its a fraud!
And so yeah, without it, the thing to get cut would be the very Dept splashing yellow paint and parking tickets around the place.
As a driver, I realised years ago that I'm not welcome in the town centre.
ReplyDeleteIf they can manage without me, that's fine. But I do all my spending where parking is ample and free.
"Given the heavy-handed enforcement of local by-laws by some local councils, it is hard to tell them apart."
ReplyDeleteExcept the Mafia's usually competent with it...
"Be grateful, Southend, for your six hours of 'free' parking because there will be, waiting in the wings, a small army of 'enforcement officers' to plaster tickets on your car the moment the clock ticks past happy hour."
Oh yes!
"...I reckon it's worth a challenge especially if the digits entered on the machine are P1550FF."
SNORK!
"In a great many cases you'll find that what they are taking with one hand, they are not giving much back with the other. "
Very true! It's a job creation scheme.
Capt Haddock, I would advise your friend to challenge the Penalty Notice and check legislation as to whether a reg no is required for a parking fee. It isn't. As long as the required fee is paid then there is no reason to issue a Penalty Notice.
ReplyDeleteI would then aslo make a vexatious FOI request to the local council to ask them to confirm that the parking meters compliant with Data Protection legislation.