Car Parking
- 4 May 2009 16:3620692I had to shop in quite a few areas of Dover one day this week to do a few errands, which necessitated the use of a car for short periods only, so had to use more than one car park. One thing I would like to ask is why can't the parking ticket be universal so it can be used in more than one car park on the same ticket as I had to pay for a seperate ticket in each DDC car park. Obviously in this case I had more than enough time left on one ticket to last for all of my errands
- 5 May 2009 08:0820732This problem happened the other day too...you pay the carpark charges in the town but finish much quicker than you thought, so there is still an hour and a half left on your parking stubb you have already paid for...then you pop down the seafront for a cup of coffee and an ice cream at the kiosk and you have to pay all over again, as your first ticket is invalid in the second location. This is all while you are trying to support inner Dover's shops and cafes etc.
Its a bummer...why not give the customer a good financial kicking before he even starts to visit the shops...thats the operating philosophy.
email: dover7@msn.com - 5 May 2009 10:5920740Yes, PaulB, supporting the shops and cafes in Dover is good if you're on foot but when you have to take the car it gets a tad expensive especially as in the above posts. I feel the need to lobby DDC to introduce an interchangeable parking ticket system, wonder what RogerW's take is on this one, to support our local shops etc. What do you think Roger?
- 5 May 2009 12:1220744Part of the reason is probably due to their being different charges in different carparks ?Been nice knowing you :)
- 5 May 2009 16:2120751It probably is Paul, but I objected very strongly last year when they went up and I still object, but the businesses have many more things to worry about, so it takes a back seat.
I think it's a good idea to have universal Town Centre parking ticket, it shouldn't really matter what car-park you're in, or whether one car-park is more expensive than another, just the time - if you're within time that's O.K. if outside of it, then sadly.....................
"Spirit of Deal" as mentioned before, have negotiated a reduction - from 4pm parking is FREE
I don't know what's happerning with Dover's car-parks though - if Nigel posted, he'd tell you; if I see him this evening, I'll ask him, but he may be very busy.
Roger - 5 May 2009 17:5220755Paul aka Scotchie has the answer.
- 5 May 2009 18:3520756Last year the local car parks changed to "linear charging" so it is actually possible to get your parking pretty cheap these days. For example, it is possible to pay for 30 minutes in Pencester for about 40p, then nip to Priory Road for another half hour at 40p, so you get 1 hour in two separate car parks for under a quid. I'm not sure how well the linear charging system has caught on with residents, but I find it REALLY useful and wallet-friendly if I'm completely honest. Most charge per minute (with a minimum charge applied) so you can, in many car parks and with a bit of planning, pay for exactly the time you need and not a penny more. Most of them have a minimum of 30 minutes which is generally pretty cheap. I think in many ways this is actually good value and more benefit than a "universal ticket" would be - just imagine how much one of those would cost us!!!
- 6 May 2009 08:0720786The problem is though Rick most people dont operate like that..you know ..30 mins here..30 mins there. I think most people tend to overpay to be on the safe side.
You know how it is...you have a doctors appointment that should take 20 mins all told..not a good move to buy a 30 mins ticket though as that will be the day for sure that the doctors surgery takes 50 mins due to delay...surefire parking ticket for the hapless citizen. Most people recognise that problem so overpay. The point is, you should be able to use up that extra hour and a half already paid for, at another stop/shop, without parking charges all over again. Its good for local business surely.
This isnt a call for a universal ticket but a simple call to be able to use up your paid up time... around town. Traffic warden comes along sees there is still an hour and a half on your ticket and leaves it, no problem.I dont see any difficulty in this. It seems fair and as I say the local shops would benefit.email: dover7@msn.com - 6 May 2009 18:5820819Why do the town centre car park charge different rates? Surely if they charged the same then what is being proposed would be possible?
- 6 May 2009 19:2020826Possibly some car-parks are subsidised by nearby businesses ??Been nice knowing you :)
- 6 May 2009 19:3620832Claire, cheaper prices for the less used ones to encourage useage and also to encourage people to walk.
- 6 May 2009 19:4920838Ahem.. should we introduce the merits of public transport at this point?
- Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
6 May 2009 19:5120839done that,i posted somewhere on this forum about public transport [buses]. - 6 May 2009 20:2320843Thanks Paul - has that theory been evaluated or do people just go to Westwood Cross instead where there's free parking? There might be the cost of a journey but people can be very principled about such things.
- 7 May 2009 06:3720857There are some business-subsidised car-parking. The Charlton Centre is pretty cheap - £2.00 all day I believe, or 50 pence an hour.
There's also quite a lot of on-street FREE parking around the Town, just a little extra walking.
Roger - 7 May 2009 10:4620879The simple fact is that DDC car parking charges in Dover should be the same in all car parks enabling us to use the ticket in all of them until the time expires. Simples
- 9 May 2009 12:0820953A lot of car parks are going to be reducing their charging period from 6pm until 4pm soon, making the last hour of shopping free to park. I think it is only a temporary measure (until about October) but surely every little helps as they say.
- 9 May 2009 16:2920958Had this conversation with DDC officer about useing a ticket untill it expires answer No can do because
different tarifs and times make it unworkable.
And as was said inner town car parks will be the dearest outer town cheaper to encourage people to use them.
Think you will fined Russell St car park is used mainly for the business people. - 10 May 2009 12:2620974
I think one has to view DDC's statements on their car parking policy with a certain amount of reserve. Her Indoors managed to collect the above ticket whilst I was away. Every time I come home, the car is littered with used pay and display tickets from Dover carparks (plus the contents of the ashtray are nearly up to the rear view mirror and the petrol tank is hovering on empty)! On this occasion, she unwittingly managed to collect a fine and is spitting bullets.
She was on her way home from visiting her mum in a care home in Kearsney and remembered the moggies had run out of Whiskas. Thinking that the charging period expired at 1730, she parked in Stembrook and popped into Somerfields for a single £3 purchase of catfood. Returning to the car a few minutes after leaving it, she found it adorned with the parking ticket shown above. As can be seen, the time of issue is 1739, twentyone minutes before the charging period expired for the day. The carpark was largely empty so DDC has charged us this sum for the privilege of renting a few square feet of empty tarmac for a pound a minute. Nice work if you can get it. What next, wheel clamping?
By this time, the residents of Deal, under the same Dover District administration, would have been parking for nothing for nearly two hours. One does wonder if they are living in New Deal and we are living in Raw Deal. Is it possible that one of their unemployed traffic wardens had nipped down to Dover to round off the day by catching some sucker unawares and thereby top up the coffers to help pay for the Wheeler Dealers just up the coast?
There is no gainsaying that Her Indoors was caught bang to rights so we have no quibble with coughing up. What it does illustrate, however, is that it is DDC policy to pay traffic wardens to impose swingeing fines on Dovorian residents at the fag end of the day for no other reason than to swell the coffers. Nobody else was going to use this space in the remaining twentyone minutes in an otherwise almost deserted carpark so there is no case for saying that it conformed to any policy of charging parking fees to contribute to a rapid turnover of spaces and give everybody a fair crack of the whip.
Had my other half realised that Stembrook was still charging at that time of day, she would have turned off at Beaconsfield and gone to the Spar in London Road. As it is, her £3 pack of catfood has now cost £28 and the moggies have been instructed to go easy on it. In the wider context, one wonders how much trade Somerfields loses through people avoiding Stembrook carpark because the cost of parking tickets makes it not worth popping in for minor purchases. In cases like this, the Somersfields staff must look out at the traffic warden lurking in their empty DDC carpark and wonder what they have done for DDC to be victimising them in this way. If DDC's grand plan for an ASDA supermarket a stone's throw away ever comes to fruition, they are doomed anyway.
Having got over the pain of being fleeced, I have to say that I thoroughly endorse DDC's malevolent attitude towards Dovorian car owners and local shopping. I don't like cars and I don't like shopping, regarding them as necessary evils to be avoided wherever possible.
If they wanted to give me the job, I would be the Traffic Warden from Hell! - 10 May 2009 12:4920977Hey if we all shopped online we wouldn't have to pay any parking at all
