18 March - Parking: Ticket machine broken? Send PCN, anything else is too difficult
Last week the Places Scrutiny Committee heard of more proposals for making
parking in the borough even more difficult and stressful. There is revenue lost to Covid to be made up.
The pandemic struck Bexley’s 19 car parks hard and usage is down by around 23% in main town centres and 29% at smaller
shopping parades compared to two years ago. Commuter car parks are still a long way from having recovered.
Councillor
Cheryl Bacon (Conservative, Sidcup) remarked on Grassington Place being at only
22% of pre-Covid levels. (78% down.) Remarkably, the Council
Officer had no idea why his by far the worst performer was being so little used.
Councillor Daniel Francis (Labour, Belvedere) asked why the 20 pence service
charge on phone payments was not simply included in the price and queried the
official report’s comment that on-street restrictions
of only one or two hours should be reviewed because “it allows people the
freedom to park for free”.
He could not see how it would put commuters back into the car parks as the
report suggested and asked why on-street car parking was recovering more slowly than car parks,
to which there was no clear answer.
The Parking Manager said the one or two hour restriction used to ‘catch’ commuters working regular
‘office’ hours but flexible working may be defeating the restriction and complaints suggest
it is adversely affecting residents, hence the review. There would be no change
without consultation. Councillor Francis remained sceptical while Council
Officers believed that the short restrictions were “not working as originally
intended”. Did he mention reduced income? Of course he did.
Councillor Val Clarke (Conservative, Falconwood & Welling) was not happy about
the proposal either. Neither was she happy about motorists getting parking tickets
when the machine had failed and when there is no way of paying without a mobile phone
which is not what had been the previously accepted norm.
Residents had reported to her that Arnsberg Way now demands the mobile app which she
thought might be the reason for its usage falling so spectacularly, however her site
inspection found the most prominent machines to be there but not working which amounts to the same thing.
Cabinet Member Craske said that some ticket machines were so old that replacement
parts were no longer available but every car park is to be provided with a new machine.
The Council Officer said that during Covid, machines were covered to encourage
use of the mobile app but his procedure now is to issue a ticket and expect the
recipient to appeal because “blanket suspension of charges is extremely
difficult”. I think he meant to say expensive. Motorist are expected to take
photographs of broken ticket machines.
Maximising resident stress levels is presumably a priority and as Councillor Clark acknowledged,
“some residents become so worried that they pay”.
The Council Officer came across as a mixture of ignorance and indifference to
the pressure placed upon residents. He should expect a promotion soon.