DISC PARKING IN BARNOLDSWICK

[Stanley]

DISC PARKING IN BARNOLDSWICK

1 December 2004

It was a pleasant morning in Barnoldswick last Saturday. The shoppers were abroad getting ready for Christmas and there was an event in the Community Centre under the old Liberal Club. All was well with the world until the NCP traffic wardens descended on the town and literally blitzed the car parks. Even a man delivering at the Community Centre got fined. This spoilt the morning for a lot of people. I know that we can do nothing about the Council’s short sighted, penny-pinching, mean-spirited policy on parking but what we can do is protest violently at the manner in which it is being enforced. It seems obvious that having lulled everyone into a sense of false security this was bonus time for the wardens.
If we have to endure disc parking it must be enforced reasonably with a constant small presence of wardens. Using strategies to maximise the take should not be allowed. Is there anything in the contract with NCP that has a bearing on this? If so, why isn’t it being enforced. If there is no safeguard in the contract could we please be told who is to blame for this omission?
We are being farmed by NCP for profit. How much of this ends up in the Council coffers? The Council exists to manage the district for the benefit of the inhabitants. Could we please have evidence for any benefit that this new policy is giving us? The last thing a pensioner enjoying a jumble sale and a cup of tea needs is to find that a third of the week’s pension has been stolen off them and they have been criminalized. Before anyone jumps in and says that it isn’t a criminal offence let me tell you that for a law abiding person the experience of being fined makes them feel like criminals.
I was not fined, I live in the centre of the town and can walk but on behalf of those who were fined I am so angry at the way our peace of mind is being attacked by the people who are supposed to serve us.
One further thought occurred to me while I was editing this NOP for the book. There is another parking problem which enrages me even more than disc-parking. The whole question of charging for car-parking at hospitals. Even the staff are charged in some cases!

1 December 2004