Parking Forum members. An idea!

[silverfox1961]

Just putting this out there for now.

 

On occasion, we get calls for help from people who have been given a ticket in an area where they are unlikely to visit again, such as holiday makers.

 

We have members from all around the country who could visit these sites to photograph the signs.

 

If any of you wish to volunteer, can you add the area you live in ( i.e. London, Suffolk, Essex) below then I could then make a new thread with all the info on one post.

 

All we would need is Photo's of the main information sign(s) and the repeaters around the card park along with a rough estimate of how many signs there are. You could do this whilst shopping at the particular shopping centre or private car park.

 

I am concentrating on private parking at the moment but there is also an option to include local authority penalties at a later date.

 

Please have a think and if you can get involved, thank you

 

Silverfox1961

[silverfox1961]

Having had time to think on this, an easier option is this:

 

When you visit a shop or shopping centre as part of your normal routine, if you can spare 5 minutes to photograph the signs, that would be brilliant.

 

Upload your photos to your PC, save them as pdf's (so that they can be seen clearly) and email them to:

 

[email protected] (without spaces if any appear)

 

If your email provider restricts the size of messages and attachments, more than one email may need to be sent.

 

In the subject line, just put the name of the site in question and the date taken.

 

None of your personal details will be published on the assumption your real name appears in the email address.

[silverfox1961]

Could we not just have a signage thread where we could upload directly?

 

Of course that would be the best option but is also fraught with problems. The first being the amount of server space that would be utilised (a lot) then there is the finding of one particular post on a thread that (if it takes off) may contain hundreds of posts. Advance search isn't foolproof either.

 

Don't get me wrong, it is a good idea of yours, just thinking of the potential problems

[silverfox1961]

Fair enough, but I don't quite get what you're proposing to do silverfox?

 

 

You are personally going to receive (hopefully!) hundreds of PDFs of signage that you will catalogue and index?

 

 

Then search the forum/catalogue for matches every day/week?

 

 

I don't think that is what you mean because that would be a lot of work!

 

This is still open to other ideas anyway. There are already many threads on the parking forums where pictures have been uploaded and I could go through each and every one to find them. Luckily, on the main motoring forum, some threads show that there is an attachment which are likely to be photos of the signs. I could then start a thread to show where the photos are.

 

As this is a consultative period, all ideas are welcome, including yours. You have made some good points.

 

I don't mind spending time on this.

[silverfox1961]

That would be the easiest option. All I am after is the signage ATM so it doesn't really matter whether the site is ANPR or patrolled.

 

Some photos can be obtained from Google Street Maps but they are usually just the entrance signs as the cars don't usually enter private land.

 

I found one sign from PE on a site in Scarborough on Google yesterday. The sign was behind a fence and although the terms at the bottom could be seen I doubt anyone could get close enough to read them as they were tiny.

 

This scheme (if it works) is mainly for those that can't go back to the site to photograph the signs. White Moss Car Park in the Lake district comes to mind as I have seen a few threads where people have been caught by (not so) Smart Parking.

[silverfox1961]

Silverfox...

 

Reference having a searchable list of signs, I'd be happy to donate the server space to accomplish this. We could then have a list of PPC's, which is then further broken down into areas, and then individual car parks.

 

Thank you for the offer. At the moment, all ideas are up in the air until we can get a better idea of which way is best. If we need it, we'll take it up with you.