Sunday, July 06, 2008

Bizarre Parking News from around the UK

It seems that the green bandwagon is all very well and good until it starts costing councils money, so in London electric cars' exemption from parking fees is to be scrapped because it's become "too successful". Needless to say, Electric car manufacturers aren't too happy about this:

"The City's decision has nothing to do with improving the environment and everything to do with short-term financial gain," says Julian Wilford, co-founder of electric vehicle company Nice.
On a similar note, Westminster Council has scrapped free motorbike parking, this time apparently because of a shortage of spaces. Interestingly at the same time parking fees in Westminster car parks have fallen to 20p an hour in an attempt to bring back the motorists. Something isn't right there.

In Barnet the council has introduced a 'Pray and Display' scheme. Many motorists would argue that that's what they do when they park in London but this scheme is to allow religious leaders to park for free when on business.

Elsewhere in the UK, in Manchester "super wardens" have gone on patrol armed with the ability to hand out fines for parking and anti-social behaviour.

Finally, a Derbyshire farmer who hasn't visited London for 45 years has been fined for parking his vintage tractor in Wandsworth. The tractor hasn't left his Barn for 14 years but the council is still insisting that they caught it illegally parked 150 miles away in Wandsworth.