Parking Ticket
I recently visited the town of Tenterden in Kent. After initially trying to park in car parking area for larger vehicles and finding it was full , I intended to leave without visiting the town area as a tourist. However Infound that at rear of Waitrose on recreation road there was a car park that had no height restriction and was intact virtually empty in bottom 3/4 of the car park,.
I found a space away from all other vehicles and parked in what I thought was a common sense way, ie within 2 BAYS so as not to cause any obstruction to the running lane around the car. I paid the appropriate fee and then visited a number of shops and small restraint in the town. On return to my vehiclecI found that I had received a Penalty charge notice for not parking within a bay. Had I parked with all 4 wheels in a single bay my vehicle would overhang front into running lane aroundcar park and the bay behind. AscI say the car park was empty so I was somewhat surprised. The enforcement officer was in the car park but despite my protest would not revoke the ticket. The charge now being £50 which I feel us excessive. I have appealed to the council but to date the ticket stands.
My advice now to anybody in Motorhome, large camper van or towing a caravan is not to visit this town you are not welcome.Go to Canterbury or North Kent coast where it is completely different.Dedixared baysvandcareas to park
My outfit is Fiat Ducato campercan 5.99metres in length, standard width.
Comments
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A 5.99m PVC will overhang most parking bays by about 0.5m in the way shown. If you can overhang a verge or similar at the rear, you should be OK. Otherwise, occupy 2 bays and buy 2 tickets as overhanging in that manner often hampers others trying to park or leave.
I'd not make a fuss but pay up and keep quiet as you've no defence I'm afraid.
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Standard parking bays are generally 4.8 x 2.4 metres so if you paid for two bays and the wheels are within the marked lines, which they are, then you would appear to be in the right. You mention that you paid the appropriate fee but you fail to say if that included the fee for two bays. However you don't mention if the parking attendant was aware you had paid for two bays.
You need to get some accurate facts together and decide if an appeal is needed. Certainly, as your tyres are not over the line then you are within the bay
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Give 'em hell
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You might need to look carefully at the rules for where you parked. If it says “wholly within the parking bay” I’m afraid you won’t have a prayer. Good luck.
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I disagree. Look how much bodywork is overhanging that bay. It could easily, in a different configuration, obstruct others parking or leaving their bays. I would never, ever leave my van parked in such a manner.
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Those parking bays are staggered long the length. Look at the one on the drivers side, it's set back possibly 1/2 metre and the one on the passenger side can be seen forward of the vehicle and even further than that in the next one. Also a good example can be seen in the reflection of the bodywork. So that means that the front end will not hamper anyone driving along the front.
I think the OP has a case for being aggrieved. It's just a pity the image isn't composed to show front and back
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…..or the rest of the car park.
I did say "in a different configuration" because we have no idea what the whole layout is.
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Surely we have to obey the regulations of a car park, details of which are usually at the ticket machines, or face the consequences.
As has already been pointed out, we don't know if the person paid for the 2 bays within which the van was parked or even if that was allowed within the regulations. If that was the case then s/he may have a reason to challenge the fine - if not, then "give 'em hell" is totally negative and a waste of time and effort.
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Thanks for the not so sound advice.🤔
* My advice now to anybody in Motorhome, large camper van or towing a caravan is not to visit this town you are not welcome.Go to Canterbury or North Kent coast where it is completely different.Dedixared baysvandcareas to park *
But if you play with fire 😉 expect to get burned occasionally.
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Yep, dictionary definition of “wholly” is fully, entirely. I take that to mean every bit of the vehicle, not just the wheelbase. We often have a word with parking officers if we can find one, when we are visiting somewhere new. I think everyone we have spoken to has been helpful, certainly in terms of being clear what is and isn’t allowed. Some have been good enough to show us best places to park as well.
Like you Tinny, we wouldn’t risk parking like the photo, way to much overhang there. Risky!😬
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2.4 metres wide by 4.8 metres long is the minimum. I have never made the spaces on car parks quite that small. The narrowest I designed to was probably 5.5 x 2.5. Often wider though as if you had a width space 2m metre wider than to fit a row of 10 then the bays would each be 2.7 wide.
Many years ago the Parish council asked for a design layout for a newly surface parking area outside shops. I produced a design that fitted in with MY usual minimum. Th head of the council insisted that I educe the bays to 2.4m and squeeze more cars in. I said if I squeeze one extra space in you will loose two unless you fine for those over the lines. I had 10 or so spaces marked at 2.4 wide on the front row and all unmarked area coned of and yes the parking was such that only 8 cars were able to park. So the lines were sprayed out with black and my original plan used.
minimum car park widths are daft with larger vehicles
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This is the car park behind Waitrose from google earth, the fence behind red car matches fence in OPs photo. He should have been able to park in two bays without overhang.
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Even on that photo the grey estate car is overhanging the bay. Wonder if he was also fined?
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So the OP only paid for the one bay.... then. 🤔
And the front overhang of the motorhome is far greater than the grey car(which as plenty of space to the rear) & I would imagine the rear of the motorhome was on /extremely near the white line of the space behind.
With the photo provided only the OP knows where the rear end was within the space markings. 😉
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When we had our coachbuilt MH, we often needed 4 bays even though it was not huge at 6.4m long. Our 6m PVC, like the OP's, needed 2 bays unless we could overhang a verge at the rear.
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Spacing on parking bays is often marked, its would appear, based on the dimensions of the original mini/ Ford Anglia 105E. The latter was only 4ft 9ins wide. Modern cars are often around a foot more than that in width, quite apart from length issues.
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We had some many years ago, a Rover 100 which was a big car ?, we were behind one in our Sportage and could not believe .how much bigger our car was in comparison with the Rover,
, But those who now design carparks are still it seems in a lot of cases working with 1950s measurements
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No not really ... the cars were functional & proportional to the size of the road system & parking facilities then.😉
Now days people's ego's have enlarged alongside the size of their modes of transport, where by what was seen as adequate in years past 🤔 is sadly lacking in the modern man's perceived requirements.
Who says size doesn't matter.... clearly in some cases smaller is best. 🤭
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I struggle with the-‘people’s ego’s have enlarged alongside the size of their modes of transport’ part of your post C3, I drive a pickup that I used to fill with forestry equipment & it tugged 3.5tonnes. I couldn’t do that with a std vehicle. Back in the day folk were more tolerant of Spartan & small interiors with trucks doing the heavy lifting now we have hybrids that double as both daily drives & trucks👍🏻
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It is safety features that have made vehicles that much larger as when I started driving there was a thin metal skin on vehicles, today you are cacooned in a safety cage, with little more room in most modern vehicles than in our split windscreen morris minor
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Yes, folk are bigger (wider, heavier) these days and by some margin....
also, safety construction means stronger, thicker sidewalls and regulations re height of floors, lights etc that weren't there years ago...
my first car was a 1967 Cortina estate....we could easily get four of us inside (bench seat, column change) and our golf clubs in the large boot.
the floor was flat and long, the side walls were thin and we could use the full width of the car, not so now.
look at the rear of any modern car and you'll see the actual boot opening is around 60% of the actual width.
no doubt we are all safer and better protected now, but to accommodate all that protection around ever larger people results in larger vehicles...
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Yup. Many car parks predate today’s larger vehicles, add into that mix providers who are looking to maximise income via as many spaces as possible, and parking a modern vehicle, let alone a MH isn’t always easy.
Our Wrangler is almost as long as our MH. But we can get the MG into most spaces.0 -
Is that a real MG or a Chinese one?
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My tongue in cheek comments aren't made to chastise people who use/buy large vehicles Rocky, indeed I've owned several large saloon cars in the past🤭😁, but were made mainly to point out the fact that parking today's modern size vehicle is only going to be more difficult.
It appears that the humble parking space size as stayed roughly the same as it was decades ago. 😮🤔
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A real one SB. A 1971 MGB Roadster, honeycomb grille, Teal blue. We have had it 26 years, it’s wrapped up in the garage most of the time, but OH has been doing a bit of tidying lately. He’s just refurbished the springs and shockers. Parking spaces aren’t the issue using the MG, but road humps and cushions are, and sadly we are surrounded by them. Our town probably spends more on these than on child protection. A four mile drive to see my Mum, I have to go over 96 each journey!
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