PARKING charges are one of the big bug-bears for those of us who ride a bike in the UK. It’s a situation that rose in recent years as councils looked to try to improve air quality (read that as ‘make money’) in busy towns and cities.
One Visordown reader has today been stung by the recently introduced Islington motorcycle parking charges, and it’s fair to say, he’s pretty cheesed off. We’ll let the nameless rider (his choice) take over from here…
‘I got to the office around the normal time, a bit bleary-eyed and in need of caffeine. Ditched the bike in the designated bike parking outside the office, and headed in to get warm and wake up. Riding up to the parking area, there were no obvious glaring signs anything had changed, I couldn’t see a pay and display machine, or some updated signage from the direction I travel in from, so in my head, this bike was (as it’s always been) free to use…
The view from where the traffic is coming from...
‘In hindsight, I should have twigged, I’ve read the bloody stories you lot [Visordown] have posted on the matter before, but working in Clerkenwell, and being out of town, didn’t think Islington’s motorcycle parking charges applied where I worked. I wish I had.
I head down for lunch with a pal and he taps me pointing to my bike. “You’ve been stung mate, unlucky”, he said with a smile – he’s a cyclist you see. In my head, I was full-on ready to have a face-off with the next traffic warden I saw, as I ‘knew’ this was free parking. To help prove my point I walked the parking area, and still, no signage was to be seen.
Spot the warning signs, this is the only way to see that this is a charged motorcycle bay, from the pavement!
‘It was only when I got on the pavement opposite the parking area that I spotted it, a tiddly sign up a lamppost the size of an A4 sheet of paper advising the new charges were in force. It tells you on there it’s a quid a day and gives some number to text to pay for it.
‘Long and short of is, it’s £80 reduced to £40 is paid quick-time, but the methodology behind the signage has really p***ed me off! The sign is literally only viewable from the pavement, not from the road as you ride up to the bike park. Why? Why would a pedestrian need to know how much to park a bike, isn’t better to warn the people that use the bike park of the changes?
‘The only reason I’m telling you this now is a bloody fuming about the whole thing, it’s not the money, it’s the method in which councils go about fleecing it out of Joe Public. Right, rant over!’
Upset is not the word, and to be fair, we would be too. Councils are ever more devious in the way they lay out parking signage, especially when it has just been brought in – they see it as a golden time to earn some cash… Our advice to the riders of the UK; before you leave your bike in a designated motorcycle parking bay, have a quick google to check if it is free, even if you’ve used it before. It’s well worth spending £1 to park all day if it means you dodge a fine.
