Parking rules should be enforced

9:25am Thursday 31st January 2013 in Letters By Reader letter

Parking rules should be enforced Parking rules should be enforced

CAR parking is a popular topic in the local press recently, and three things prompted me to write in.

Some drivers have complained about the way parking is enforced, one school mounted a campaign about dangerous parking by irresponsible parents, and the council is in the red on its car parking account.

The rules about parking are made very clear to those who can read, whether on a car park, on the street, outside a school, or on yellow lines. If you flout the rules you run the risk of a penalty. If you get caught you only have yourself to blame!

Parking is not just a Town Centre matter either. Inconsiderate, irresponsible, and downright dangerous parking is rife across the borough, particularly by parents on the ‘school run’ who make the area around schools a death trap for all children, including their own.

My complaint with the council being in the red with car parking, is that rather than doing too much parking enforcement, it is doing far too little!

If more enforcement officers were employed to regularly target hot spots, especially schools, not only would they make roads safer, but they would be self financing, even making a profit which could be used to ease council budget cuts.

So come on St Helens Council, do your job…..they are your rules, enforce them!

Jim Cunliffe, West Park

Comments(15)

Not Bothered says...
11:19am Sat 2 Feb 13

How about pavement parking, why do motorists think it is OK to obstruct the footpath to keep the road clear, if the road is not wide enough to park on then park somewhere else,

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keepitreel says...
7:15pm Sat 2 Feb 13

if you own a retail outlet on the north side of town you may as well close down,DUKE ST,NORTH RD and surrounding roads has a constant stream of traffic wardens who hide,take details from 30yds away then casualy put a ticket on your car when you vacate it,were are the free car parks after 3 on this side of town,at 4-30 to-day sat 2nd i witnessed a traffic warden book 2 cars for having the nerve to stop and drivers get out to pick up an ink cartridge from the shop in DUKE ST,they were gone less than 5 mins each.

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keepitreel says...
7:15pm Sat 2 Feb 13

if you own a retail outlet on the north side of town you may as well close down,DUKE ST,NORTH RD and surrounding roads has a constant stream of traffic wardens who hide,take details from 30yds away then casualy put a ticket on your car when you vacate it,were are the free car parks after 3 on this side of town,at 4-30 to-day sat 2nd i witnessed a traffic warden book 2 cars for having the nerve to stop and drivers get out to pick up an ink cartridge from the shop in DUKE ST,they were gone less than 5 mins each.

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Not Bothered says...
7:24pm Sat 2 Feb 13

keepitreel wrote:
if you own a retail outlet on the north side of town you may as well close down,DUKE ST,NORTH RD and surrounding roads has a constant stream of traffic wardens who hide,take details from 30yds away then casualy put a ticket on your car when you vacate it,were are the free car parks after 3 on this side of town,at 4-30 to-day sat 2nd i witnessed a traffic warden book 2 cars for having the nerve to stop and drivers get out to pick up an ink cartridge from the shop in DUKE ST,they were gone less than 5 mins each.
5 minutes or 5 hours if parked illegally you get a ticket no argument if you don't want a ticket then don't park where you should not, game over.

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smith&weston says...
12:29pm Sun 3 Feb 13

The original point of parking restrictions was to keep traffic flowing, reduce the chances of pedestrian / vehicle accidents and generally aid road safety. This went out of the window when the councils found they could get their grubby little hands on the fines by running the system themselves. Areas with absolutely no record of dangers associated with parking suddenly received yellow lines in them. As more and more people obey the lines and income from issuing tickets fall, so we see an increase in yellow line painting. We are only a couple of years from every residential street in the borough having lines and other parking restrictions applied in order to keep the cash rolling in to the town hall.

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MrBenggo says...
3:39pm Mon 4 Feb 13

I wish they would send traffic wardens down to my neighbourhood,the police paid no notice to my complaints when it was a matter for the police.Now it is up to the council they are paying no notice to my complaints.
When there is an accident will the police or the council accept responsibility for it for ignoring complaints.

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Terry B says...
4:29pm Mon 4 Feb 13

I have every sympathy with small shops and businesses, but it's the council they need to tackle, not the wardens - they are only upholding the regulations as they stand. A bit of leeway and common sense wouldn't go amiss though! It's hard enough to make a living without having to fight councils and stupid parking restrictions!

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frankly says...
5:34pm Mon 4 Feb 13

my grudge isnt about street parking but supermarket parking and how thats not checked..take Asda for an example..the number of times i see non badge holders in disabled spots and cars with no obvious sign of a child with them parking in parent and child spots...i hope asda and the others read this

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Frankie Flintstone says...
6:42pm Mon 4 Feb 13

Richard 111 has been under a car park in Leicester for 527 years, I wonder if he go a ticket or was ever clamped.

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Mike_a80 says...
9:56pm Mon 4 Feb 13

What annoys me most about traffic enforcement in town is the double standards! Why is it if your disabled its safe to park on double yellow lines, but if your able bodied its not? Surely its either dangerous or its not!

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MrBenggo says...
10:55am Tue 5 Feb 13

Very good point Mike,I totally agree with you.

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Frankie Flintstone says...
11:12am Tue 5 Feb 13

What about the Paralympians they can run, jump, swim, cycle and a lot of other athletic feats better and faster than me and still can park nearer Tesco entrance than me, how come.

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smith&weston says...
2:45pm Tue 5 Feb 13

You've hit the nail on the head Mike...
It was very unsafe to park in Corporation Street, hence the yellow lines. However, it became completely safe merely by introducing pay and display machines and removing the lines. Rimmer and Co must think we are all idiots.

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domformula1 says...
3:57pm Tue 5 Feb 13

smith&weston wrote:
You've hit the nail on the head Mike... It was very unsafe to park in Corporation Street, hence the yellow lines. However, it became completely safe merely by introducing pay and display machines and removing the lines. Rimmer and Co must think we are all idiots.
I was just about to say the same thing before I read you'd got there first, I've worked in the town centre for some 14 years, Corporation / Birchley Street was double-yellow lines, which were basically parked on all year round by badge holders, reducing the road to effectively a single lane. They simply switched the lines to pay and display bays as someone had the bright thought to make money out of the obstruction rather than solving it. Disgraceful. As I write a lady has just been rescued by an ambulance having seemingly been knocked down in the road on Corporation street and the police are in attendance. I hope she's ok and I ask myself how long can the road go on without more now being spent making an obviously dangerous road one-way only and if that's the case, good luck marrying that up to the hotch-potch that exists behind the town hall

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Sankey says...
4:49pm Tue 5 Feb 13

Expect more and more of this, The councils have executive mouths to feed and need the money. First off f course is to reduce services to the public when you have gone as far as possible with that then you raise more money from incremental charging in effect an supplement to the council aggressive hounding of motorists trying to keep the beleagered traders going in the town centre is an obvious one. What we can't do is reduce the size and pay of the council executive team that would be madness. No the way forward is to increase council tax Marie we have plenty money just go ahead you are doing a great job. And hound the town centre shoppers until they bleed. Otherwise we would not have a highly paid council executive team most of whom are on more that £100k a year and we would be rudderless without such advanced brainpower running the council without which we would not have such a fantastic town the envy of all towns for miles around which will before long boast of THREE macdonads.

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