Why do a large minority of riders go to so much effort to avoid paying a few quid to use Forestry trail centres.

When ever I go to Hamsterley Forest you can guarantee that there are planty of cars parked in the parking area on the lane outside the park to avoid paying the minimal parking charge.
There are even cars parked on the side of the drive into Hamsterley 30 yards before the toll booth. These people seem to be almost exclusively bike users.

Most people do pay but why do these people think they shouldn't have to contribute towards the upkeep and maintenance of the trails?

The crazy thing is that they are usually driving decent cars or riding £££ bikes. I find it astonishing – they should all be ashamed of themselves.

They are using the extra distance as training, hence why they are faster than you.

But yeah, it is a bit tight.

Perhaps they believe money is the most important thing on the planet and the more they have of it in their pockets the better off they will be ?
I'm always surprised at the lengths some people go to save a few quid.

yep, and its not just Hamsterly, its happens at every one. Having said that i went to Whinnlatter the other week and it was £6! thats more than a bit steep, not as bad as Dalby maybe but still steep. 😯

To be honest some fc parking charges extract the michael imho.
Bit iir Hamsterley was £3 whch is more than reasonable.

Was just about to comment on the same thing neil. Dont mind a couple of quid, but 6 quid at whinlatter is a bit steep i think. The cafe there is very nice, but again, it expensive!!

i went to CyB years back with a group of guys
its a five hour drive and a weekend away, but on arrival at the carpark more than one person was making their case for avoiding paying to park

F**ktards

Worse, people that wont pay to ride at swinley despite the free parking?

Aston hill is (£6/7)per person, not per car-full.
Is it fair to assume it is the same people who litter, ignore trail diversions and moan on internet fora?

I've seen this just about everywhere I've ridden from Wales to Scotland, France and Belgium

it's specially galling to see (as I did at Drumlanrig) flash cars parked outside. Some poor stoodent in a 20 year old R5 I can maybe understand but frankly cockhead, if you can afford a beemer, pay the bastid entry fee.

Remember, the car park fees contribute towards the upkeep of the tails!
And six quid parking is a bargain when you consider the entertainment you get on your visit! You pay that much if you spend a couple of hours at the cinema! Stop whining and cough up the dough!
I was passed a parking ticket at a trail centre last week, the bloke said, "Here you go, save the money!" So I took his ticket, tore it up and paid anyway!
If the FC don't get enough money to cover their costs, they'll not bother with any more trails…

Was just about to comment on the same thing neil. Dont mind a couple of quid, but 6 quid at whinlatter is a bit steep i think.

That's more than I remember it being but you can buy a yearly pass which covers both Grizedale and Whinlatter which is only about £20 I think.

it's specially galling to see (as I did at Drumlanrig) flash cars parked outside.

Being tight and selfish is probably how you get to be able to afford a flash car 😉

I've been guilty of this at 'Dalby'. It's £7. or was, it may have gone up now.
We were staying at the campsite at the top of the hill (where the toll booth is), so weren't actually taking up space on a road.

Do pay at Penmachno though, where there is a voluntary gift box on the gate for the trail pixies.

I was shocked by the parking fee at a trail centre I was at on Sunday. I was actually surprised so many people paid it.

I don't get it either – riders will spend thousands on bikes, upgrades, clothing and kit, they'll spend hundreds on fuel, event entry fees etc but turn up to a trail centre and they'll start a whine on an internet forum at the £3 parking charge or the fact that the coffee in the on-site cafe was £2.50…

Nah, I'll whine. £8 to park at Bedgebury is diabolical, considering the facilities/trails. Once bitten, twice shy.
On the other hand, I put every coin I could find in the van in the box at Penmachno.

I was going to compose a considered response agreeing with the OP, but then I saw this:

frankly cockhead, if you can afford a beemer, pay the bastid entry fee.

which sums it up quite nicely.
And if you don't want to pay the costs associated with trail centres, there's a one-off cost of about a tenner for an OS map of a particular area, and your imagination/ingenuity in piecing together a ride is free.

FC passes only cover the venue you purchase at. I think they're missing a trick here, i would buy an annula pass no worries if it covered all my centres (NW and Wales). But £6/7 a day is a lot, especially when there may bge two or three cars there in total. I still pay, i just complain because i'm British 😆

Seen it at Glentress. I had finished my early morning ride and I was putting the bike up on the car when a guy arrived and asked me for change for the parking machine. I didn't have any but he asked if anyone even bothered paying as if not he wouldn't either. I told them they all did and he grumbled. If he hadn't tried to avoid paying I would have given him my ticket for the rest of the day but instead he can cough up. 8)

Remember, the car park fees contribute towards the upkeep of the tails!

Not at Dalby…

The fee is purley for he upkeep of the Forrest Drive. It has nothing to do with trails…

I don't complain about the prices at trail centre cafes. After a ride I would pay nearly anything for a cup of tea.

I tend to agree that you should always pay when it's a small amount like the £3 at Hamsterley – I would maybe complain at paying twice that if I lived somewhere else (I'm just down the road from Hamsterley). Overheard an interesting conversation a few weeks ago at Hamsterley – one bloke asking his mate when they had to start paying the parking charge, they were under the impression that it was just Spring to Autumn. They've just put a new sign up which may have confused them.

If you don't park at the Forest Drive car park, Dalby is actually quite cheap, and the other car park is still slap bang on the Red trail. Also IIRC you can get free parking for Dalby and a couple of other sites if you join Singletraction and do a bit of digging with them.

Yep, I agree but it's not just cyclists.
At Rutland Water I think it's about £3 to park. You get walkers, families with picnics, birdwatchers parking on the verges all around the place to escape the fee.

I don't understand why these people think it's fine for other's to pay, but not themselves if they want to enjoy the facilities on offer.

It's a problem here at Drum where the entrance fee is £5 per rider. Yep I know it's steep , but that's what funds the trails completely….No EEC grant money or anything from the councilor tax funded FC! The trail has to be totally self sustaining or it gets pulled up, full stop. Also, the estate factor lives just up the hill from where the cheapskates park too so it all get noted. It makes it VERY hard for me when trying to justify new trail.

£5 each !!!! Yep it's a lot but as said above it's cheaper than a ticket to see 3d Hamsters at Vue and if you're gonna use the trails a lot, join the Drumlanrig/Riks Bike Shed club for £20 adult £10 kids £40 family and get involved in making the trail a sustainable community thing. There's a gert big house, gardens, walks, showers and free bike wash, parks, disc golf, adventure playground etc all included too; oh and very very good very reasonable cake in the cafe.

FC passes only cover the venue you purchase at.

Grizedale and Whinlatter are on the same pass.

When we go there are usually 3 of us in one car – £1 each!! It would be cheap at twice the price.

If we take the kids to Hamsterley for a picnic, to use the playground or go for a walk £3 is still cheap for a day out and that's without riding a single trail. It would cost 3 times that to take them to a soft play place or the cinema.

If people expect free riding they should use free trails i.e. bridleways etc.

I suppose if you go regularly the fees become pretty hefty. If I lived not too far down the road from a trail centre, I'd be pretty cheesed off to pay the £3.50 charge 5 nights a week and had no option for a regular users pass. I'll generally happily pay per-car charges, but per-person charge places just don't even get my custom.

Is the issue that they are actually just avoiding for paying for parking and do not understand that the parking revenue is a crutch for other costs?

thing is even if the FC were to offer an annual car pass, people would complain.

Hmmm I agree, but here in Exeter they close the car park early so at night you have no choice, which I find mucho annoying.

A one year pass for Hamsterley is £38. Seems reasonable

grum – Member

FC passes only cover the venue you purchase at.

Grizedale and Whinlatter are on the same pass.

That pass has gone up from £20 to £40 I think for the two centres and £30 for just whinlatter

I'm happy to pay for the upkeep of trails.

But, I've arrived and found the car park full and had to go elsewhere to park, but come back from my ride and there were spaces. Someone arriving at the later time would think I was avoiding paying, but I'd had no choice.

toys19 – Member

Hmmm I agree, but here in Exeter they close the car park early so at night you have no choice, which I find mucho annoying.

That boils my p1ss too. Bloody stupid isn't it, but it makes the doggers park further along the hill.

ck, if 'one' lives close enough to ride five nights a week, perhaps 'one' could ride there and avoid paying to park?

You are all viewing this as trail centre ghetto riders.

Sometimes I park at Afan or Glyncorrwg and pay. Season tickets are available, but I haven't had one for several years because I didn't use it enough. I frequently park at other parts in the Afan valley and don't pay…

… not because I'm a cheapskate – more to do with the route I plan to take. If you're relatively local you'll probably ride a wider selection of routes than visitors – the forest then becomes a larger and more diverse set of recreational activities 😀

I've been told the FC is not empowered to charge for this.

There is also the argument that it is funded by us as taxpayers.

*starts beamer*

Remember, the car park fees contribute towards the upkeep of the t[r]ails!

Not necessarily. Certainly not at Dalby (as someone mentioned). I doubt it's the case in the majority of FE sites. They tend to avoid ring fencing income to specific activities. Much easier if it goes in one big, amorphous pot for them to decide what to do with.

Whilst some form of contribution at some places is probably fine and if it goes towards upkeep and maintenance then great. HOwever, FE/C is a Gvt quango already paid for in large part by tax payer dollars and revenue, mostly from timber (that revenue is ours already as we're paying for the organisation).

They have a mandate placed on them by Govt to achieve certain goals through manangement of the Crown Estate and any other sites they look after.

I find the (blind?) assumption that we should all pay a bit strange really. It's an outdoor activity on (usually) public land, how come it's so automatic that we should suddenly pay? I always liked the fact that most stuff in the hills is/was free (ish). Does this assumption extend to people when they're out walking? How come it doesn't extend to tolls on bridleways etc as they're also riding a taxpayer maintained bit of infrastructure?

I just find (what appears from reading some of the posts above) the assumption of pay it, you can afford it (it's nothing to you rich boy – how very "class war" 😉 ) and it goes into the trails all a bit blinkered. Some folks seem to accept that we should pay for anything and everything and I don't.

Hey ho.

😎

Coffee/Tea – take a thermos if you don't like what is on offer

Parking Charges – Pay them or find somewhere else to ride, its pretty simple

Live locally – get involved, then make the most of what you are helping with

I have never used a trail center but sod off would I pay £8. If your local tesco/waitrose started charging to park bet you would try to avoid it despite them looking after the boarders planting skanky mini conifers.

skanky mini conifers

LOL

Yeah, the only difference with FC is that the trees are bigger 😉