Been done?
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-delivers-on-parking-promises-to-help-local-shops
Spy cars
over zealous traffic wardens
Drivers just going about their daily business
A sop for drivers just before general election?

automated fines landing on doorsteps and being issued in industrial volumes

doesn’t seem to mention private parking “charges” which AFAIK are being issued in even greater numbers, or would capita and other big party donors not appreciate that?

Thought you may be about to win the thread title of the year award for that one, until I realised you were talking about Eric and not Branston. 😀

He’s obviously had a few tickets outside his favourite restaurant. I can’t imagine him being public spirited otherwise.

Drivers just going about their daily business

Yep. That’s the problem.

Under the new laws to help local shops, drivers will get a 10 minute grace period when parked in a bay.

Why don’t they just change all the signs to “Max stay 2hrs 10 mins”?

Why don’t they just change all the signs to “Max stay 2hrs 10 mins”?

or “Buy two hours and get ten minutes free”

I tend to avoid parking fines by getting back to my car before the ticket runs out, or if I’m not sure how long I am going to be I try and over estimate and by a ticket with a large buffer on the time limit. I will then hand this to someone else in the carpark in order to get the moneys worth.

I guess people who have the sense they were born with are a rare thing nowadays.

It’s a little like blaming the filthy speed cameras for a speeding fine. If you drive within the limit, you don’t get fined.

It’s a little like blaming the filthy speed cameras for a speeding fine. If you drive within the limit, you don’t get fined.

In the war on motorists, you are clearly jihadi john.

No. Just a simple guy that’s happy to take responsibility for my own actions.

Just a sop to help them in the polls.

The last thing we need is more cars parking where they shouldn’t.

No. Just a simple guy that’s happy to take responsibility for my own actions.

Stop being so bloody reasonable and feel the outrage or leave us now!!!!! 😆

Eric Pickles is an absolute trumpet. A buffoon. His name connected to anything guarantees total nonsense.

Unlike Wilfred who was a star.

In the war on motorists, you are clearly jihadi john.

Surely in a war on motorists the jihadis would be called Austin or Morris.

Why don’t they just change all the signs to “Max stay 2hrs 10 mins”?

it’s just stupid, anyone who complains about getting ticketed for 2:01 hours will complain just as loudly about 2:11 with the new rules, same as “I was only here a minute” will now be “I was only here a minute, over the 10 grace minutes”

anyone would think thers an election afoot and the torries are feeling they need to win back a load of grumpy old clarkson fans whove found another party that better aligns with their prejudices and complaints

On the same theme (of buying votes), Cameron has announced a free vote on repealing the anti-hunting legislation. Anyone would think an election is coming up…

Eric Pickles serves the same purpose as Norman Tebbit and Anne Wiiddecombe in previous Tory admins: If I don’t know what position to take on an issue, I listen to him. Then I know the opposite is the right stance.

Stop being so bloody reasonable and feel the outrage or leave us now!!!!!

Oh, I am outraged all right. If you park where you like or over stay your ticket, you will get a fine. It’s pretty simple principle that has served us well for many years. Why the hell do they need to give 10 minutes grace on a ticket? You know what time it runs out when you buy it. You how much time you think you need when you decide how much money to put in the machine.
So you turn up 10 – 15 minutes late to find a Traffic Warden putting a ticket on the car and the poor bugger gets blamed for your dim witted inability to take responsibility for the fact that you were a tight arse and thought you could get a way with a 1 hour ticket rather than shelling out the extra 20p. I laugh in the face of people getting incredulous about their own ignorant stupidity while trying to take it out on a low paid, not good for much else or lets face it they wouldn’t be handing out tickets, person doing their job.

Better?

Unlike Wilfred who was a star.

And the dog who found the World Cup.

He was on the radio explaining how him dictating to local councils what they must do was handing power back to local communities

It was very convincing

Here you get 20 mins free [ town centre] and the council dont like the fact this means fewer spaces [ per day] to just nip into shops therefore reducing footfall for businesses
Still thanks Eric for telling us how best to do it and increasing stay times by 50%. We all feel empowered

Like your thinking neil the wheel

Why not provide infrastructure that means people can visit shops without spending thousands of pounds on a car and petrol. People would have more money to spend in the shop then.

^ War on the motorist!

You tell ’em Jef.

I’d be interested to hear in what way this ‘helps local shops’. The point of time limited parking is to stop parking spaces being occupied all day precisely so that people who want to use local shops can get to them. If parking wasn’t ticketed and enforced then local workers – including the shopkeepers and their staff – would park in the spaces closest to where they work, and be parked in them all day from before the shops opened until after they closed, and the result would be that their own customers wouldn’t be able to get near to the shops at all.

I heard him on Jeremy Vine this afternoon, and I must, Mr Pickles is very articulate for a cat.

Ah yes the good old “War on the Motorist”, everyone wants something done about the other motorists, but any measure that impacts their own driving is “war” and some how immoral or petty.

Case in point, I’ve just been reading our village newsletter (oh yes). After a petition by local residents a 20mph advisory limit was put in place through the whole village (previously a 30).

Seven months on and a traffic survey puts the average speed between 35 and 37 mph with a “significant number” doing 40 to 50. Police report that most people they stop (for going over 30) are residents of the village. 🙄
The report also states: “Only a very small percentage of vehicles were travelling at 20 or less”

Of course it doesn’t help that the limit is only advisory as making it mandatory requires special permission and tons of extra signs on every road. And even then the police say they won’t enforce 20 limits.

Shall we play electioneering bingo?
Every time a policy announcement is made which is clearly about trying to win votes, whilst pretending to care in the slightest about anyone outside Westminster…
We might be quite busy for the next few months 🙂

I’d be interested to hear in what way this ‘helps local shops’.

Always an interesting argument that. Being able to park directly outside a shop is apparently essential, yet look at most city centres and the most successful and highly sought after shop locations are in the pedestrianised areas!

He could do a lot of good if he’d just allow himself to be used to roll the roads in the first place.

I bet there’s some kind of law in Westminster that Pickles and Nicholas Soames aren’t allowed within 50m of each other for fear that the whole place might be imploded by their combined mass.

Pickles is a fat oaf. Simple as.

Always an interesting argument that. Being able to park directly outside a shop is apparently essential,

From some retailers POV it does help, especially retailers that sell the sort of stuff that folks just pop in for – newsagents etc.
Whether or not it’s ‘essential’ is irrelevant, if drive by shoppers don’t stop and buy, the retailer loses out, not the driver.
We had a sandwich shop that lost 40% of our trade overnight when they restricted and charged for roadside parking outside of the shop.

A 10 min leeway would – I guess – allow someone to stop for a few minutes without buying a ticket.

Depends on the type of shop, no doubt, but would your sandwich shop have been more or less successful if it was in a pedestrian area with people walking past rather than on a road with people driving past?

There was people walking past anyway.
Moving to a new unit was looked at but we came to the conclusion that we couldn’t compete from scratch, especially against the likes of Greggs
We had a prime spot and lost it.
Anyway, that’s digressing

The point I was making was that parking restrictions or lack of DO affect small businesses, which was questioned earlier in the thread.
Whether or not it’s right allow the 10 minute leeway is – again – another question altogether.
I was simply putting across an answer to those that didn’t believe it affected businesses.

Whether or not it’s right allow the 10 minute leeway is – again – another question altogether.
I was simply putting across an answer to those that didn’t believe it affected businesses.

Stop being reasonable. This is STW.

I’d be interested to hear in what way this ‘helps local shops’.

pretty sure I’ve linked this before but this guy did a bit of a run down of different areas in Bristol, hardly conclusive evidence (and other factors in there) but the area with least parking had most successful shops.
http://cyclingfront.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/will-parking-revitalise-a38-part-1.html
http://cyclingfront.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/a38-high-streets-part-2-bedminster.html
http://cyclingfront.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/a38-high-streets-part-3-gloucester-road.html

He was on the radio explaining how him dictating to local councils what they must do was handing power back to local communities

hmm kinda like Dave letting councils have more power over how they spend their budget…and then slash their budget. “well if your council has decided to cut essential services it’s not my fault”

Stop being reasonable. This is STW.

Sorry 😉

There’s many a street parking spot in Sheffield that allows you to press the green button and get a free ticket to get 15 minutes of free parking.

Funnily enough they are near local shops.

I do use them now and again when having the misfortune to not be able to use my bike to commute.

Pretty much anything that Eric Pickles says is guaranteed to be utter bollocks.

He banged on for years about bringing back weekly bin collections, in spite of it being proven that it actually increased recycling rates and cut costs.

Same pile of crap with that stuff about it should be allowed to park on double yellow lines for 10 minutes if you were “just popping in” to the shops.

He really is a complete waste of space.

Case in point, I’ve just been reading our village newsletter (oh yes). After a petition by local residents a 20mph advisory limit was put in place through the whole village (previously a 30).

I take it you took them up on their free back issues in the last Globe to fill any gaps in your collection?

pretty sure I’ve linked this before but this guy did a bit of a run down of different areas in Bristol, hardly conclusive evidence (and other factors in there) but the area with least parking had most successful shops.

This could be many things, most popular shops in the town center where there is a higher proportion of foot / motor traffic customers. In an area with more through traffic its perfectly reasonable to expect parking restrictions to effect drop in trade in some areas. I’m not pro loads of free parking but that guy seems to be missing the correlation is not causation point.