I never have paid to park in Newbury, except for the little Mulistory round near Nandos on a Friday night.
Sainsburys etc is never completely full and could happily lose 10% of the spaces if it meant more room for doors. my biggest peeve is spaces that aren't large enough for 2 cars to park and still open doors , usually this is because some potato can't park

You mean the Kennet Centre multistory? I wouldn't call it particularly little

Parking bays is another council scandal. Hard working people are trying to do a hard days work and count every penny, while councils up and down the country are trying to take it off them anyway they can. Councils are there to offer a service, not to try to antagonize us. Well, that is the theory, anyway.

That depends on what you are comparing it with. I've traveled quite a bit as a lorry driver and I can tell you there are a lot bigger car parks than what this town calls parking arenas.

Parkway seems OK, then I'm biased as I live here. It does seem easy to use and very convenient though.

To be really honest, rather than touching up the existing parking areas, which we didn't seem to have much of an issue with until very recently, I'd much rather see a complete overhaul of the Wharf / Museum / Library area to make it much more attractive, easier to use and to eliminate the nonsense of KFC car park access on the junction. WBC keep on about gateways and first impressions - this area us just that for many visitors, yet it has the ambience of a recently flattened development site.

I think WBC is squeezing business with their parking issues, which creates a not very nice place to visit. I, like others, do my shopping outside Newbury town centre because I don't think it is friendly enough for people who live here, let alone visitors.

I parked in the "long stay" library car park on Saturday in my wife's car and the car was longer than the bay.

That is great news for the car park attendances. If they catch your car they can find you and more money for the coffers. WBC seem to be very militant in their outlook where money is concerned.

My husband was a fraction over and he got done. He had a very big car. The attendant was putting the ticket on his car when he arrived. The attendant just smiled and said that if you are a fraction over you will be done. Hitler would have been proud of his legacy. My husband said he didn't know whether to cry or salute. I would have kicked the bugger between the one eyed jack.

Now we know that the bays are incorrectly marked for the larger Chelsea tractors, I would have thought this one was worth a tape measure and a camera, assuming we are talking about a car not fitting the bay, followed up by an appeal and a phone call to Mr Radford (investigative reporter) if you get knocked back. A copy of the ticket should identify the CEO and they do take pictures so WBC should be able to provide photographic evidence of the misdemeanour.

Get back at them where it hurts, in the pocket.

You could also send a copy of the ticket to the Wardens departmental head with a demand for a refund based on his remarks in NWN, telling him you'll deduct it from your community charge unless sorted.

My advice is if you think a parking ticket has been issued unfairly (for example being issued a PCN for parking outside of the bay markings) and you don't agree with the councils final decision, use your right of appeal and go to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

They are the service responsible for adjudicating disputed parking tickets. If you have a valid case that the PCN had been issued unfairly, they will not uphold it. It is a fair system, free for all to use, where solicitors or barristers use the balance of probability, rather than a beyond all doubt approach to make decisions. 1000s of tickets a year are adjudicated.

See the patas website the TPT website or the Citizens Advice website for further details.

It is your right, use it!

The question is though, will you use your discretion if the bay is too small for the car and overhangs OR will you issue a ticket and leave it to the driver to sort out on appeal to the council. How have you been instructed.

What do you think?

I know what I think but I wouldn't mind a confirmation or otherwise from the horse's mouth so to speak.

And you'll get exactly what you've been told officially. They will use their discression. I have some sympathy for the Green Meanies. They actually do a pretty good job and round here, unlike a good few other places, we have very few reported over zealous parking complaints. Equally, and I'd be the first to say WBC should get the size right, but some motorists don't help themselves. My neighbour for instance, who has just taken delivery of a nice new but unnecessarily huge Land Rover. Just him and his wife, but it's needed because he doesn't like being trapped when it snows!

Instructions from our supervisors have not changed at all and we have had no special advice. We have obviously discussed the news stories, but we all agreed it was a bit of a non-story. We will continue to enforce as we have always done, that being with fairness, discretion and consistency. Each case of parking out of bay is different, but if a space is blocked by another vehicle, preventing that bay from being used, or a vehicle is causing an obstruction to other car park users, then of course we have to issue. As stated before, if you don't agree with the councils decision, take it out of the councils hands altogether and appeal to the TPT; let them make the decision.

Our training guidelines state that the footprint of a vehicle is the tyre footprint, so along as the tyres are within a bay, then a PCN will not be issued. A car with a tyre on a line would not be issued to, unless in very unusual circumstances. A vehicle with the bumper hanging outside a bay (a Jaguar XJ for example, which has a very long boot) will not be issued to unless causing an obstruction, but that is a different matter.

As I say, each case is different. However, out of bay tickets are a small part of the overall number, and its usually a clear book/don't book decision. Our job isn't rocket science after all, and common sense always applies, regardless of what some people think.

In terms of the council bay sizes, they are broadly in line with other car parks in the town, which do vary greatly in size. It must be remembered that most of the car parks were designed over 25/30 years ago, if not longer. Road use and vehicles were very different back then. Resizing parking bays would mean reduced parking capacity, and would require some car parks to be remodeled entirely, at vast cost to the tax payer.

An excellent reply. Thanks for that. Quite clearly indicates that the whole thing was a bit of a non story and that the fairness rule seems to apply. As long as the tyres are inside the bay and any overhang is not causing an obstruction, no ticket.
I do think that the employer should at least when the story was first broken, have at least discussed it officially with the CEOs.

Howdy,

Is there such a thing as a non story? If it hadn't been brought up then we wouldn't have got the reply we did? I am pleased this is a forum where somebody comes on and explains things. Does this forum have an official from WBC or Newbury Town council on here answering questions? I did put something up on the Sign con thread and I would love an in-depth reply.

Don