It's my own fault but I was unaware Accrington multi storey had installed cameras and fees and I overstayed by 20 mins above the 3 hours free resulting in £100 reduced to £60 within 14 days , now is it just me or is even £60 vastly overkill for a service that costs a couple of quid for a few hours ? even if it was £20 reduced to £10 it would be enough to give me the message so..

Is it long overdue that we had a nationwide online petition to the government to cap what is a cruel money making swizz....

That sounds like the over stayers are a massive part of their business plan.....fairer would be a charge per minute.

If councils were funded properly they wouldn't need these sky high fee's as a vital revenue stream.

Better to exploit someone who's done "wrong" that raise taxes that go toward stuff people need.

So you get 3 hours for free in Accy and you still managed to overstay?

Can't really complain about being charged for it can you?

As for the rest of the country, it's guaranteed if parking was free/unlimited people would then start to whine that there is nowhere to park in town during the day.

CombatClaret wrote:If councils were funded properly they wouldn't need these sky high fee's as a vital revenue stream.

Better to exploit someone who's done "wrong" that raise taxes that go toward stuff people need.

So you're saying Councils haven't been funded properly for as long as parking fees have existed?
Or were you having a thinly veiled dig at the Tories?

How on earth can you spend over three hours in Accrington..

conyoviejo wrote:How on earth can you spend over three hours in Accrington..

That is, of course, the most curious thing about this

There's so many nice shops to cruise and look at the 3 hours flew past...not !! I was working in the Arndale to be fair it's a similar story all over the country and its got to stop but it won't if we simply just accept it up the tailpipe...

surely they would be better charging you whatever the cost would be for four hours ?

Is there clear signage warning of this?

conyoviejo wrote:How on earth can you spend over three hours in Accrington..

How true. One would have thought that as an enticement to stay beyond the 3 hours the council would pay you by the hour, rather than the reverse.

SmudgetheClaret wrote:There's so many nice shops to cruise and look at the 3 hours flew past...not !! I was working in the Arndale to be fair it's a similar story all over the country and its got to stop but it won't if we simply just accept it up the tailpipe...

So the options are this -

1- make parking free, with no time limits and accept people will hog spaces all day every day, making it harder for other people to find a space when they want to go shopping.

2- accept that parking shouldn't be free all day, manage your time better and accept the occasional fine when you can't, but it does mean spaces will be available more often when you want to go shopping.

Have I missed anything out?

I’ve just had £100 fine for parking on an Ibis hotel, that I was a guest in. I’ve sent them my hotel reservation and payment, should they choose not to accept this, they certainly won’t be getting payed. I entered my reg in reception on check in, again they can check their CCTV

Over three hours in Accy town centre? You'll be frontpage news in tomorrow's Accrington Observer.

You were fined for staying longer than you had paid for?

The rascals.

dougcollins wrote:You were fined for staying longer than you had paid for?

The rascals.

In fairness it's a free car park. I always thought parking in Accrington was free, indeed it's one of the reasons we go intermittently. When we go, (infrequently) we usually stay for about an hour, but it didn't occur to me, till this thread, that if for some reason I decided to stay longer I would automatically receive a penalty.

Are quite a few missing the point of the OP here? Surely, it's the £60 for overstaying by 20 minutes which is being questioned? And rightly so, that is ridiculous.

Goodclaret wrote:Are quite a few missing the point of the OP here? Surely, it's the £60 for overstaying by 20 minutes which is being questioned? And rightly so, that is ridiculous.

So if they'd overstayed by two hours would the fine be more appropriate/to your liking?

The man’s been ripped off by the state. Amazed that most on here can just sneer and offer justification for it. We get the governments we deserve I suppose. Lemmings.

It's important to remember that there are two main functions for town councils. One is to support the town, to make the town a nice place to be, to encourage local business, to encourage visitors from outside the town to come and support their local businesses, and to generally keep the townsfolk happy. The other function is to make as much money as they can.

Function 1 is why councils are forever saying they want people to use town centre shops rather than out of town developments with free parking and easy access. Function 2 is why they keep charging through the nose for car parking and put in speed bumps, bus lanes, and money raising cameras. Unfortunately there are very few councillors who realise that function 2 is a very big reason why function 1 doesn't work very well.

They say, come and shop in Accrington. And then they say, it'll cost you. What is the point of a £60 penalty (or even £100) penalty for overstaying twenty minutes in a free car park? Is it to stop people who work in the centre from parking there all day and hogging spaces reserved for shoppers? Or is it to raise money? They're after the money, and if that means shoppers don't come back, that's next week's problem.

Good points. Apart from the fact there’s no decent jobs in accy

I did start off with it’s my own fault but I’ve parked there many times before,the signs were minimal but ok I slipped up and I’ll pay £60 as a reward! all I’m getting at is the punishment should fit the crime, in France the yellow vests are smashing the speed cameras now I’m not advocating that but simply that people power can stop this it just takes will..

If the punishment was a few quid, you'd do it time and time again.
You won't be doing it again in a hurry now though, so the deterrent works doesn't it?

I have every sympathy with the OP and tend to agree with him. I live in Chester where we have similar draconian laws and penalties on parking and at times I feel that the Council has declared war on the motorist. Yes we need to have parking restrictions but surely we need a far fairer payment regime for the odd occasion where you overstay your time limit. Charging by the minute would be far more appropriate and we need to restrict the cowboy clampers who have terrorised the motorists for years.

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote:If the punishment was a few quid, you'd do it time and time again.
You won't be doing it again in a hurry now though, so the deterrent works doesn't it?

Capital punishment works the same way. Are you advocating a return to hanging and flogging as well, because that would certainly work?

CombatClaret wrote:If councils were funded properly they wouldn't need these sky high fee's as a vital revenue stream.

Better to exploit someone who's done "wrong" that raise taxes that go toward stuff people need.

My local council are currently putting in kerbstones in open countryside to use up some of their budget and to prove it has been spent. On top of this we also have parking attendants who take great pleasure in giving shoppers tickets on Christmas Eve.

Yes it’s excessive.

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote:If the punishment was a few quid, you'd do it time and time again.
You won't be doing it again in a hurry now though, so the deterrent works doesn't it?

I think a £10 penalty would be enough to think I wouldn't do it again. £60 is just not justifiable in a circumstance like this and, as dsr explains, it's a money making exercise. You could be 1 minute over and receive the £60 fine - that just can't be right? OK, if your car is still there next day, maybe you are just taking the mick and £60 would seem more reasonable.

I got fined at Burnley because I only put enough in till 1645 on a match day. Got caught, paid the fine with a rueful smile thinking "Next time I'll make sure I put enough in". It happens sometimes, though it does seem an excessive fine

(mine was £60 but halved to £30 if I paid within a certain period of time)

Where possible now I always use my phone to pay for parking (albeit with the 20p admin fee). That way I get a reminder when my parking is due to expire, and the option to extend it from my phone. OK, I understand that this doesn't necessarily help in the OP's instance, but I'd still set a reminder for free parking too.

For the record, the £60 fine can appear over the top, but as others have said it is intended to be a deterrent and I am sure the enforcement office and staff require paying, so there is some justification for the amount.

If we are going to any tackle parking issue it will be the increased use of ANPR on shop car parks, such as Aldi. These companies are generally cowboys who don't have robust systems in place and often send Parking Charge Notices to people who have not overstayed and they refuse to admit their system is at fault. These instances are increasing and much more common. The drivers usually end up paying to avoid the stress of fighting the ticket.

At my place of work we use FirstParking to enforce the parking restrictions and yesterday I received a PCN whilst being legally parked in my staff bay where I have parked for the past year or so. After visiting security they checked my car reg against the database using a handheld device and told me that it wasn't registered, but then used the PC to check and it was. My ticket was cancelled immediately, but it does highlight that these databases don't always work and can produce anomalies.

excessive fine? you could use the same argument about three points and £100 fine for driving at 33 mph but would get little sympathy on here.

corporal jones wrote:excessive fine? you could use the same argument about three points and £100 fine for driving at 33 mph but would get little sympathy on here.

Don't get me started on that... again...!

http://www.uptheclarets.com/messageboar ... =2&t=34269" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just to make clear that the fine in this case, as in most, is not £60.00 but £100 (subject to a reduction with conditions.)

This discussion (almost exactly) happened a few months ago on the Accrington forum on Facebook. Some where sympathetic and some not. I am not sure if the council actually own that car park (I can't remember the outcome of the last discussion) but the problem did appear to be the signage and its apparent lack of visuality. I live in Acc (well Baxenden) but never ever use the Arndale car park, it is dark, grubby and the exit slipways are perilously narrow with many 'scrapes' on the sides from cars mis-judging the width. Oddly the 'up' ones are far wider and easy to negotiate. It is an all round miserable place and we always park on the streets because one of the good things about Acc is (providing you don't overstay) parking is free everywhere.
People could also try the station car park next to Tescos which (I think) has no time limit. Forgive me if I'm wrong and I ain't paying your fine if I am.

Goodclaret wrote:I think a £10 penalty would be enough to think I wouldn't do it again. £60 is just not justifiable in a circumstance like this and, as dsr explains, it's a money making exercise. You could be 1 minute over and receive the £60 fine - that just can't be right? OK, if your car is still there next day, maybe you are just taking the mick and £60 would seem more reasonable.

Most parking firms allow approx 5 mins over your time of expiry, so 1 minute over isn't an issue.

CaptJohn wrote:Capital punishment works the same way. Are you advocating a return to hanging and flogging as well, because that would certainly work?

Capital punishment doesn't really work as a deterrent, as shown in the USA.

Lancashire County Council are talking about sticking parking meters all over Burnley town centre - on the 40 minute street parking areas. This will surely have a negative impact on town centre footfall.

They were planning on doing the same in Colne. The shopkeepers were up in arms and rightly so. They organised a publicity campaign and a petition. LCC have now withdrawn the Colne plan, but they have yet to decide on whether to proceed with the Burnley plan.

The question is whether its proportionate to charge someone £60 for over staying by 20 minutes. Of course it isn't. As Garnerssoap says, the state is ripping you off and if you tolerate this, your children will be next.

Billy Balfour wrote:Lancashire County Council are talking about sticking parking meters all over Burnley town centre - on the 40 minute street parking areas. This will surely have a negative impact on town centre footfall.

They were planning on doing the same in Colne. The shopkeepers were up in arms and rightly so. They organised a publicity campaign and a petition. LCC have now withdrawn the Colne plan, but they have yet to decide on whether to proceed with the Burnley plan.

Had those in Blackburn for years. 45p for 30 mins I think-and guess waht the machines dont give change. I think that is the most annoying aspect of all parking machines-they advertise a fee but dont give change-that cant be right-even crisp machines give change.

mealdeal wrote:The question is whether its proportionate to charge someone £60 for over staying by 20 minutes. Of course it isn't. As Garnerssoap says, the state is ripping you off and if you tolerate this, your children will be next.

Why is it the state?-the OP was in a multi storey car park-presumably owned by some London real estate giant, as most of Burnley is BTW-so why is it the state to blame for over staying a clearly marked time limitation-although I agree the fine is totally disproportionate.

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote:Capital punishment doesn't really work as a deterrent, as shown in the USA.

Possibly not for some sickos but then neither will rehabilitation. It’s about justice.