Why does a Lib Dem Council in Wokingham so dislike motorists? Why do they want our lives to be miserable?
I recently attended an evening meeting with some Councillors at their Shute End offices. I parked in a near empty car park and went to the payment machine as they now charge for evening use of their car park. In the rain I waited patiently behind the only other user of the park at that time as he wrestled to try to pay. He needed several attempts to enter the data required, only to be thwarted each time because the machine would not accept his card in payment. He then went off to try another machine.
I decided to battle with the one I was waiting for. I needed to clean the rain drops off from the touch screen. It was hard work getting the to0uch screen to accept data as I tried to complete their questions. It took three goes to successfully load the data. I did have coins with me so I tried that and to my relief it worked. I eventually did get a printed out paper ticket which I needed to shield from the rain as I took it back to the car. I was soaked from doing all this in heavy rain.
Do no Councillors ever try out the technology they are imposing? Do they not experience what many of my constituents experience, that the technology is often poor and the instructions badly formulated? Do they have to money grab all the time? Why have they cancelled free visitor parking for those who do need to go to see them at the Council offices?
January 4, 2024
Parking charges signal overpopulation: Too many drivers competing to occupy inadequate space. If charging is needed, the process should be simple and efficient. Lib Dems are not.
January 4, 2024
Hi sir John
This is a problem over the country, this is very difficult for people with sight problems
Or elderly people who don’t understand technology, but everything in England is the same very poor customer service power suppliers, phones companies councils,
Every company is the same even my garage has become a chore to book a service,
Thank you
January 4, 2024
John, your comments are true across the Wokingham Borough.
Cllr Paul Fishwick is the Executive Member for the miss named ‘Active Travel’ which encompasses highways and parking. It is interesting to note that Cllr Fishwick had a career in local authority highway work. He is thus very knowledgeable and able to obfuscate issues when I have asked questions at Council or made direct enquiries. Furthermore, Cllr Fishwick does not drive!!!
January 4, 2024
They want to destroy our town by making it impossible to drive into town and park. They want everyone to cycle whether they are elderly or unfit. It will further add to the decline of shops and businesses in Wokingham. If you want proof just look at how the LibDems destroyed shopping in Abingdon, Oxon.
January 4, 2024
They are only thinking of the revenue John, pure and simple.
They think everyone has access to a smart phone and knows how to use the plethora of Apps that are often required to link to car park machines, even in low network areas.
They also think we all have the ability to know and want to pay by phone.
The tiny car park machine screens are often facing the direction of the sun, making them almost impossible to read in bright light, and in artificial light.
It takes a long time to complete a transaction because they want so much information, the reason for requesting a car registration number is so that the space can be sold again, gaining double bubble if you leave early., and so a goodwill receipt with time left on it cannot be given to another user.
Machines should be a simple touch and go with a credit card, or phone, or payment with a cash option.
I also believe that you should not be requested to pay in advance and guess how long you may be staying, payment on leaving should be the way to go,
Simple an auto pick up a ticket on entry, and payment on leaving is the sensible route to go, with a barrier system at the entrance and exit, thus you are then not exposed to the weather at all.
January 4, 2024
“Machines should be a simple touch and go with a credit card, or phone, or payment with a cash option.
I also believe that you should not be requested to pay in advance and guess how long you may be staying, payment on leaving should be the way to go,”
If you read the “Car park payment machines” page on the Wokingham Borough Website, this option is available to you. “Touch in” with your card when you arrive along with entering your vehicle registration (so you can be issued with a ticket for your windscreen), “touch out” with the same card when you leave, and you get billed accordingly.
Not even a need for an expensive barrier entry/exit system to be installed and maintained.
January 5, 2024
Peter aware that this system has been introduced in some parts of Woodley, not sure if all of the machines operate in the way you suggest.
Why not simply get a timed ticket on entry that you put in your windscreen, why a need to put in a registration number at all, that system operates well at the multi-storey car park at the Hexagon, although you then have to queue up and pay before leaving when swiping a card or phone would be much more simple.?
January 5, 2024
Asking for a registration number is usually about ensuring that the rules are followed i.e. tickets are not transferrable between cars. I imagine there might be other reasons as well, maybe related to crime or fraud prevention.
The Hexagon car park has barrier entry/exit systems. They cost money to install and maintain. Such systems also often rely on number plate recognition. I don’t know how the cost of installing and maintaining such systems compares to individual payment machines but I would expect barrier systems to be more expensive and less reliable overall (more moving parts, more complex). I certainly remember experiencing consistent problems with just such a system at Reading station which repeatedly failed to read my number plate correctly and would generate something random and different each time.
I can also, having been stuck behind people at “pay on exit” car parks and the problems it can cause, understand why very many car parks prefer you to pay before returning to your car. It works better overall, even if that means a big queue at the machines.
January 4, 2024
We should know that libdems take the lead whenever possible when it comes to making life for motorist’s life painful.
When is someone in the libdems going to admit that they are following WEF directions to the letter?
I’m sure that if a few libdem voters came to realise just how bad their actions and policies were then perhaps we might see some change – so perhaps these are the first target to educate
January 4, 2024
I see the latest Lib Dem Focus News Letter (delivered this morning) is blaming everyone else for the Councils problems, and at the same time highlighting and promoting once again the proposed Lib Dem Candidate for the next General election, date not yet announced.
As many times before, you feature on the entire front page for an attack by the above Candidate/opponent, this time the allegation/suggestion is.
“MPs who voted to continue sewage dumping: John Redwood Wokingham” Words attributed to the Express !
I think a very long negative personal campaign (been going on for 6 months or more now) based on, if you throw enough mud some will stick basis
What a shame politics has reached such a low level !
Would be so much better if we had proposed solutions to our problems.
Reply All MPs support sewage dumping in rivers when there is a big overflow that would otherwise flood back into peoples homes. No political party can magic a complete replacement of our sewage system with enough capacity to handle peak flows any time soon. The work is progressing to increase capacity.
January 4, 2024
Why not pay by phone (as available in all Wokingham car parks)?
No need to worry about whether a machine is working or not. No need to worry about having money available. No need to stand in the rain (you can sit in your car and pay). No need to worry about a paper ticket (you get e-mailed a receipt and proof of payment for parking).
All your data (car details, payment card) can be pre-loaded in the app. All you need to do is choose how long you want to park for.
Taking actual cash out of the process most of the time also reduces the incentive for someone to break into a machine to steal the money inside. (I see far fewer vandalised machines since the move away from cash only payments for parking.)
Evening parking (enter 6pm to 10pm, leave by 6am) at Shute End is £1 flat rate. Much cheaper than for example, parking at Wokingham station.
January 5, 2024
Peter because Apps are not simple to download and use, and they add an extra charge for managing the payment on top of the car park fee.
Recent report in the national news it took over 200 keystrokes to make a payment via many parking Apps.
Had to park recently in Henley for a Christmas charity do. Station car park had two machines not working, so decided to take a photo of the Out of order screen just to cover myself from potential prosecution, as have had that experience a few years beforehand !
Regards to your comment about after 18.00 it is only a pound, sometimes people go into Town to collect a takeaway, park for 10mins cost £1.00, good value ?
January 5, 2024
Park in Rose St. It’s free for 30 minutes.
January 6, 2024
Peter
I do when I pop into Wokingham for very short stops, to collect prescriptions etc, but sometimes no space left.
By the way “Registration number taken so that tickets cannot be used by someone else”.
What is wrong with handing your paid for unexpired ticket to someone else as a goodwill gesture, after all the space has been paid for, for a set time, what difference does it make who pays !
January 6, 2024
The thing that’s wrong with it is that it is against the bye-laws. That hasn’t changed for decades and decades.
I have no problem if people wish to discuss whether it’s a reasonable or sensible bye-law, but, as things stand, the bye-law says that tickets are not transferrable, even if it’s something that’s always gone on.
January 8, 2024
Peter, afraid this is typical Council thinking, but we get there in the end.
The Council have demanded registration numbers because they can, the system means they can charge for the same space more than once, and it would help them with any potential prosecution for passing on an un used part of a parking ticket, should a customer choose to do so.
All you need on a ticket is the date and time of entry, what difference does it make who pays, if you want to do a charitable turn for someone else with your unexpired part of your ticket, what harm does that do to anyone.
if I am with a friend and they pay for the ticket for my car, is that an offence ?
Surely if you pay to park you rent that space for an agreed time, what does it matter who’s car takes up that space as the Council gets the full rate for the time paid, not extra if I choose to leave early.
No wonder this Government its Departments, and the service from Local Authorities is going down the drain, its all about control and money, nothing to do with providing a service to the Community any more.
Clearly we differ in our views, enough said.
January 9, 2024
Alan, I see it reported in the Wokingham Today newspaper that the car parking machines in question have been in place since 2018. Who was in charge of Wokingham Borough in 2018 when they were introduced?
As for the transfer of tickets question, this has been the rule since at least the 1980s in every car park I’ve ever parked in, all over the country, in council areas run by the Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems and others too. When paying for parking, you are entering into a legal contract with the car park provider, and non-transferrance of tickets forms part of the terms of that legally binding contract. That’s the reality. It may not be a term that you like, but it is one that you agreed to by parking somewhere and paying.
As for councils needing money, well, given the current and recent levels of inflation and their impact on the cost of delivery of statutory services, combined with the fact that central government grants have been increased for council areas like Wokingham by less that (3.0%), can the council afford to run its car parks at a loss (which is what is being reported was happening prior to the recent changes in parking charges)? Should I, as a Wokingham Council Tax Payer, be expected to pay to subsidise other peoples’ parking?
January 4, 2024
I agree , why can’t we have one machine for the whole of the UK and one that will take both credit cards and cash. I had a similar experience in Devon , I had to try 3 machines in the rain before I found one to work
January 4, 2024
“Do no Councillors ever try out the technology they are imposing? Do they not experience what many of my constituents experience, that the technology is often poor and the instructions badly formulated?”
Of course not. They have reserved parking spaces.
January 4, 2024
These car park machines make life for oldsters (octogenarian) a misery.
January 4, 2024
In the 1960s, objectors to parking meters inserted the loop from a ring-pull can into them, followed by their sixpenny piece. The ring-pull prevented the machine from advancing to a fine. Until it was repaired, all those parking there appeared to have paid legitimately.
The ruse was solved by drinks manufacturers eventually changing the ring-pull design.
Even so, some evaders taped transparent plastic bags over working parking meters with a scribbled ‘Out of Order’ note showing through. That enabled free parking until the ‘faulty’ meter was eventually tested.
Needlessly-punitive systems create adverse reactions even at 1960s prices.
January 5, 2024
I absolutely agree with you. It is getting more and more difficult to do anything connected with WBC if you don’t have a computer or smartphone. My computer wasn’t working and I had to report non-collection of my rubbish! to one of the customer services advisors.What a performance! I had to speak to a manager since the customer services person was extremely unhelpful. I was told that it could take up to 3 days to get my rubbish removed as it had to be investigated. Why? ? Rubbish wasn’t collected and WBC presumably has a record of who was on duty. I have also seen elderly people give up and go home after trying to pay for parking when they don’t have a smartphone or credit card. Surely procedures should be simplified, not made more difficult for elderly or disabled.