Britains parking space obsession

BBC News
By Martha Buckley


Few topics raise tempers on Britain's streets like driving and parking, with disputes over a few square metres of concrete even ending occasionally in violence.
And with car ownership rising and town centre space at an ever greater premium, it is a headache which is not going away.
Whether facing cries of too much regulation or too little, inconsiderate parking or over-zealous attendants, prohibitive charges or abuse of disabled bays, it seems impossible for parking planners to please everyone all the time.
The problem is obvious - too many cars vying for too few spaces - but the solution is far from clear.
Councillor David Sparks, chair of the Local Government Association's environment board, says: "We have the obviously massive and unpredicted growth in car ownership in the latter part of the 20th Century combined with the fact the vast majority of this country was not designed to accommodate the car.

'Confusing' rules
"Even where provision has been made it has frequently outstripped supply."
Adding to the tension is intense frustration at how parking restrictions are drawn up and enforced.
Complicated rules which vary widely between towns, or within towns, can make it hard for drivers to work out when and where they are allowed to park.

Fighting for free parking
Sheila Rainger, of motorists' group the RAC Foundation, says: "In London this can mean different rules on different sides of the same street.
"Even if you do want to park fairly and lawfully, it's sometimes very difficult to know what to do."
Enforcement is even more controversial, with councils accused of levying disproportionate penalties for those who break the rules and employing over-zealous private operators to hand out tickets.
Ms Rainger says: "We get a lot of calls from people who feel they've been treated unjustly. People want to park within the limits but find themselves falling foul of them by accident and the penalties can be very harsh.

'Cowboy operators'
"There's a lot of feeling among motorists that controls have moved from straightforward enforcement of parking to being a revenue source, which we feel should not be the case."

Mr Sparks says most councils do not make a profit from parking.

"A financial distortion has crept in some councils where, because of financial pressures, parking has been used as a revenue earner but in the majority, this is not the case."
However, he says some "cowboy" enforcement firms have brought the whole system into disrepute.
"Clearly we need parking regulations to be enforced and there's nothing more annoying than people who park on double yellow lines or in disabled parking spaces when they don't have a disability.
"But equally we don't want it to be a form of exploitation."
He suggests the best way to solve arguments over enforcement might be to let local people decide.
"It's something that should be very much part of David Miliband's neighbourhood management agenda - parking should be enforced how people want it to be enforced."
Annoying though it is to get a parking ticket, it does not explain why passions run so high over parking in a way they do not over bus routes or cycle lanes.
Mr Sparks thinks the answer is bound up with personal space and the "unique" role cars play in people's lives.
Personal space
He says: "When people get into their car, they are getting into a psychological bubble and when they get a parking charge it is not like being charged at a cash machine or supermarket, it is as if it is a personal blow to them.
"Equally, when people park in the wrong space, like outside someone's house, they also see it as an invasion of their personal space."
Parking rules can affect an area's development from encouraging or discouraging shoppers from visit town centres to changing the character of streets as front gardens are paved over to create driveways.
But with so many needs to balance, can local authorities ever hope to get it right?
Ms Rainger thinks the answer lies in more research and a recognition that people will keep using cars.
"We've got to accept that for most people the private car is important to the way they live and work.
"We encourage people to use public transport but for a lot of people, that can be quite difficult.
"Our poll found a lot of people would rather change their job than go there by public transport. It is something people feel very strongly about."