One man who took a trip to Paignton in Devon says he left feeling like he'd been 'mugged' over the cost of parking. The local paid a visit to the seaside resort and couldn't believe the £4.70 fee for three hours parking along the empty seafront.
Writing in a letter to our sister print title the Herald Express, he said the 'absurd charge' is entirely counter-productive and meant he spent £25 less locally as a result.
He has also called for Torbay Council to look again at its parking charge structure, especially in the winter.
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Read the full letter below
I was mugged by the council. No, not by council tax – a clever device designed to extract ever more sums of money for ever fewer services.
No, by car parking. £4.70 for three hours parking along the empty sea front in Paignton on a mid-week morning in chilly January. Really?
This sort of exorbitant fee will have one of three effects; locals won’t bother to go there in the first place; they will stay for a shorter period than they intended; or they may park for the intended period but not make any other purchases.
So, as we don’t like being ripped off, our visit turned into a coffee and cake instead of coffee, cake, a long walk then a lunch.
At a guess we spent £25 less locally than we otherwise would. If it had not been a nice day, likely it would have been an hour and not even a coffee.
This absurd charge is entirely counter-productive. We are not up country tourists who might justifiably moan about parking as well, but if you have come hundreds of miles in high season you will have a holiday budget which will include parking.
The vast majority are better off than their Torbay equivalents anyway, as this area has some of the lowest paid jobs in the country due to our over reliance on mass tourism.
Torbay Council, you must surely know – as we keep telling you – that often poorly paid locals are deterred from visiting our own towns for shopping or recreation for a variety of well rehearsed reasons, of which their poor state of repair is one, combined with the vast sums the council expects from us to occupy a few square metres of tarmac for a few hours.
The council rakes in a few million for car parking and fines, less all the associated costs, but in consequence diverts tens of millions of pounds of local spend to out-of-town supermarkets or The Willows etc.
If there was a pay what its worth scheme for Torbay parking out of season, I suspect the council coffers would be much depleted, but the local shops and restaurants would be thriving.
Tony Brown
Torquay
