recently been on holiday in North Devon, and was shocked at the price of car parking, particularly at the beaches.
one was £16:50, all day,
another was £8:50 for 4 hours, then £1 per hour after that,
others were cheaper but about 1/2 mile to beach and no toilets.
i think the "cash strapped" councils are trying to claw back, some revenue from tourists, really put a dampener on our holiday,
so be prepared to pay when holidaying in the south west, dont know what its like in other parts of the country, but a recent visit to Norfolk, was nowhere near as bad as Devon
We went to North Devon for 9 nights in 2017 and found that the car parking charges in the coastal areas were excessive back then. Typically, Woolacombe car park was charging a single fee of £10 for the day back then so nothing has changed on that issue it appears. It doesn't inspire me in the slightest to return to North Devon with these rip off car parking charges which of course is deterring other visitors to think likewise rather than encouraging tourism to the area.
Had to take my stepson to guys hospital three years ago so as well as the conjestion charge £25.00 for three hours in NCP and we had to go three there times.
Many decades ago the price of West Country car parks especially in Cornwall put me off going back there, it became a significant expense (at around half the cost of a camping pitch fee!) to be factored into overall holiday costs at a time when money was tight (I'd been made redundant). No fun trying to explain to a small child that we couldn't go to the beach because it was too expensive! Many of the car parks were NT, and they, then as now, only seem to cater to the wealthy!
Think I've only visited Cornwall once since then, so they did themselves no favours in bringing income to the local economy, but plenty to replace me and my family so guess they don't care.
Not all of Devon is extortionate, Tarr Stepps carpark on Exmoor is a fixed fee £3 for all day, it's easy to spend quite a few hours walking the beautiful riverside paths, and accordingly get good value, but a bit steep if only 30 minutes to go look at the steps alone. Westward Ho even has a free car park thanks to a charitable local landowner.
As to London, I unfortunately live there! A great place to get disgustingly ripped off every way you turn, likely to cost you £5 to park just to dash to the local shops for a loaf and bottle of milk!
We won't go to places where they charge ridiculous parking prices. NEC something like £ 20 to park at some shows. I can get the train from Shropshire for the same or less, no fuel to buy or traffic jams on the M6.
If we go to London we can stay with our nephew and park then use public transport.He has off street parking and is just off the south circular.
Our local hospital has high parking charges, my wife had a couple of appointments so I dropped her off and went to local Morrison and had a coffee while she was in.
We have bus passes so it helps or we will use park and rides if they have them. Some give you half price with a bus pass or are free.
Some places actually have free parking! Near us in Wellington and Oakengates its free so they can attract shoppers who might go to Telford Town Centre.
Shropshire has free parking on Sundays in towns, but they did increase the charges the rest of the week.
Shrewsbury free on Sundays and has good park and rides one by the Morris Leisure caravan site.
York has excellent Park and Ride.
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------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!
We now avoid Cornwall as much as possible. Even in Somerset they are getting silly with prices for car parks.
The annoying part with some car parks is if you only want to spend 30 minutes or an hour by the beach, you still have to pay the half day price which can be up to £5.
People avoid these car parks and go elsewhere and then people wonder why the beachfront cafes close shop and you have another derelict building plus unemployed people.
Birmingham is a good one - if you stay at the premier on broad street Birmingham (e.g. to go to a show at the symphony hall or the royal ballet) you have to pay £12 on top of your room price to park plus £8 per day for the congestion charge because its 50 yards (only) inside the congestion zone - so £28 for less than 24 hours parking all as "on cost".
While I think charges are too steep I think abroad you quite often get "visitor taxes" at hotels?
What absolutely would go in my room 101 is anywhere you have to pay to use public toilets. To me thats simply inhumane.
In fairness, I’ve never paid a penny to park during the day by the beaches up here, so I can’t agree with the blanket term that we’re all in “rip off Britain”. In the cities, sure we pay lots: so we use public transport. Our local hospitals have always had free parking too, but there are no spaces (…bus again!).
I’d guess if the parking was totally free in the honey spots down south, there wouldn’t be enough spaces for everyone & with no income, there’d be no funds to build more car parks. And would you still want to go if it was wall to wall car park…
It’s a balance, it is very expensive I agree, but there would have been local consultation with the local people who pay the Council taxes.
£100 fine for stopping just for a second from the A38 right up to the Hampton hotel.
You must use the meet and greet car park if dropping off or picking up a passenger £5 for 10 minutes , absolutely bloody disgusting!
Quote: Originally posted by Fiona W on 27/7/2022
In fairness, I’ve never paid a penny to park during the day by the beaches up here, so I can’t agree with the blanket term that we’re all in “rip off Britain”. In the cities, sure we pay lots: so we use public transport. Our local hospitals have always had free parking too, but there are no spaces (…bus again!).
I’d guess if the parking was totally free in the honey spots down south, there wouldn’t be enough spaces for everyone & with no income, there’d be no funds to build more car parks. And would you still want to go if it was wall to wall car park…
It’s a balance, it is very expensive I agree, but there would have been local consultation with the local people who pay the Council taxes.
Our hospital charges for parking and it is not cheap at £2.50 an hour! Even those that have a BB have to pay.
I can understand high parking charges in a city and it is your choice whether to use public transport or pay. Unfortunately as we live in a rural area with a very poor bus service (understandable) we have no choice except to use our car.
Although only 25 miles from Birmingham, I cannot remember when last we travelled into Birmingham.
Quote: Originally posted by urbster on 27/7/2022
Bristol Airport !!! 🤬🤬😡😡
£100 fine for stopping just for a second from the A38 right up to the Hampton hotel.
You must use the meet and greet car park if dropping off or picking up a passenger £5 for 10 minutes , absolutely bloody disgusting!
Birmingham Airport is the same you have to use the drop off area and pay the fee,don't stay over 10 minutes as you really get stung.
------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!
I won't pay to use any car park if I can help it. If I can park on the street, even if it means a half-mile walk, I will do that. Going into cities I will usually use public transport if I can, and the same goes for tourist attractions, beaches, etc. If I can park in the street somewhere then jump on a bus for the rest of the journey, I do that. It does help that I have a bus pass though.
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 27/7/2022
I won't pay to use any car park if I can help it. If I can park on the street, even if it means a half-mile walk, I will do that. Going into cities I will usually use public transport if I can, and the same goes for tourist attractions, beaches, etc. If I can park in the street somewhere then jump on a bus for the rest of the journey, I do that. It does help that I have a bus pass though.
The stupid part is that on some council car parks BB have to pay, but the BB can park outside the car park on the road legally even though they may cause a bit of an obstruction!
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 27/7/2022
I won't pay to use any car park if I can help it. If I can park on the street, even if it means a half-mile walk, I will do that. Going into cities I will usually use public transport if I can, and the same goes for tourist attractions, beaches, etc. If I can park in the street somewhere then jump on a bus for the rest of the journey, I do that. It does help that I have a bus pass though.
The stupid part is that on some council car parks BB have to pay, but the BB can park outside the car park on the road legally even though they may cause a bit of an obstruction!
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Topic: shocking car park prices
via mobile 26/7/2022 at 11:36pm
