misuse of visitors parking permits

[daisyw]

We live in a parking blackspot in Basingstoke.

We have lived here for over 30 years and parking has become a nightmare for my husband and myself.

 

If we drive anywhere during the day we have to make sure we return by 4.00pm at the latest and not at all at weekends or we are unable to park.

It probably sounds over the top but it is having an effect on our lives.

 

We have a residential parking permit for our car and a visitors permit, which is pointless because we can never invite visitors because they cannot park.

 

It would seem that the "visitors" permit has become a 2nd car permit.

Many cars sit in the street, day after day displaying the visitors permit, some are sellotaped to the dashboard.

 

I have contacted the council for a definition of "visitor" but was sent a generic letter giving details of the permit with costs and application form.

 

Is there anything we can do other than move house?

[Jamberson]

Probably not, to be honest.

 

With parking permits the issue is whether there is a valid permit on display.

If there is, they can park there.

 

The only alternative would be a review of the whole parking scheme at council level, and the number and types of permits they issue.

 

The outcome would be unknowable, but as an individual you are unlikely to have much clout.

 

You'd have a stronger hand if you and your neighbours lobbied the council collectively.

[ericsbrother]

depends on the order given by the council to introduce the scheme.

 

Some councils have a charge for a visitors permit by the day,

other charge a fee for one on an annual basis,

some issue a book of them with scratch off panels for the date they are used.

Your council has tried to be nice but actually created a problem because of that.

 

This is a problem that occurs when people lobby the council to introduce a resident parking scheme but don't actually make sure the scheme is one that best suits the neighbourhood.

 

For example,

many schemes have very small zones but in Clapham, London your permit covers a number of roads in a block so you don't get to park near your house unless you are very lucky and most people commute by tube so once a car is parked in a space it often doesn't move for a week because the owner knows the problems.

[daisyw]

The permits are issued on a n annual basis,

simply a piece of card with "visitors permit' on front.

 

 

We didnt lobby the council for the scheme,

it has been in operation for over 10 years.

 

 

It has been tinkered with until it now covers a block of roads.

The roads include several with their own drives etc.

All a bit of a mess really.

[Homer67]

Your problem is not the misuse of permits but the lack of parking facilities designed in when the estate was built.

 

You can't blame families for having more than one car - my household has 4 which rises to 5 when the boy's G/F stays over when he's back from Uni.

 

This will only be resolved when you move and buy a place with sufficient parking for all your cars.

[daisyw]

Thanks but I live in a 1900s terrace house in the middle of a town. I have lived here for 37 years. I have one car.

[Homer67]

Exactly - so your issue is the lack of parking facilities designed in when the estate was built.

[daisyw]

Parking wasn't an issue when the houses were originally built, its a street not an estate

My issue is with people who misuse the Visitors Permit as a permit for a second vehicle. Therefore preventing other residents (who accept that only one vehicle is suitable for the area) from parking.

[Jamberson]

You could go back to the council and ask for the terms and conditions of use for these permits. There might be conditions which exclude what you describe. You may have a long battle on your hands to get anything done, but you could try.

[Homer67]

Parking wasn't an issue when the houses were originally built, its a street not an estate

My issue is with people who misuse the Visitors Permit as a permit for a second vehicle. Therefore preventing other residents (who accept that only one vehicle is suitable for the area) from parking.

 

It's an estate, in this context the whole of London is made up of estates that were built at various times.

 

Of course it wasn't an issue in the 1900's as no one had a car then!

 

I think you are being unrealistic, you live in a highly populated area that was never designed for parking any cars in the street, in fact the streets were designed for the milkman's horse and cart and foot traffic, nothing else.

 

You aren't going to win this, the permit scheme is unmanageable and unfair, if you want to park outside your own home then move somewhere where you can have off street parking on property that you own.

 

A permit scheme isn't meant to guarantee you a parking place, it's just meant to generate revenue for the local council.

[ericsbrother]

Westminster issues twice as many permits as there are parking spaces and didnt need to charge poll tax because it made so much money from parking permits.

How they justify their revenues is impossible to tie into the law but no government of any colour will take them to task as it suits all parties to allow this for their own political ends. the tories say it keeps council tax down, the greens will claim that it limits the number of cars in inner London, labour will claim that it taxes the wealthy over the poor and no-one has ever met a Lib Dem in Westminster so their opinion is unknown.