I was working in London at the NCP car park on Grosvenor Hill on Thursday & Friday for the Jack Barclay Bentley dealership. Got there just after 07:00 on the Thursday morning, got my ticket & parked my van up where we would be working. We had to run a load of cables above the ducting, fit several double sockets with RCD trips, then run the water supply from where it was to where we were working on the next level down in the car park & fit a tap, plus unblock all the drains. Finished work for the day about 22:00 on Thursday night. I left my van there overnight as we were staying at a hotel off of Oxford Street which was walking distance. Back on site for 08:30 on Friday morning & finished the job off around mid-day, packed all my tools away & proceeded to the exit. Luckily we had previously arranged with Jack Barclay to supply us with a free pass for the NCP car park, in total my van had been in the NCP car park for 31 hours, the chap at the barrier took my ticket & said "That will be £542.50 please sir" WTF! 31 hrs at £17.50 per hour! I handed my pass over & drove off.... Happy days! BUT.... (A) How the fuck can NCP justify £17.50 per hour for parking??? (B) How the fuck do people afford to park in London???
I always park at a tube station on the outskirts of London when visiting as parking is such a rip off. No idea how the normal working man exists in central London..... guess driving down there will soon be the preserve of the super rich.
I have a parking space now so no issues but if not I always used my bike.. used to be free.. not so sure now..
Biggest problem with bikes and parking down south here is that a lot of parking spots are banning bikes from using them.... Bastards
I'm in Brighton and the Green council is constantly getting stick for high parking charges yet it's not the council car parks that are expensive. Council car park : 4 hours £6 NCP in the same area : 3-4 hours : £18.10 Mind you, £542 is really taking the piss and there should be a law against it. I'll rather walk than give NCP any money.
Over the past few years the local council (of various shades of blue, red and green) have been rolling out restricted parking areas across the city. Bikes aren't allowed to park in the the car parking areas (i.e. most of the road) and are restricted to small bike specific parking areas which, unless you're very lucky, are a couple of hundred yards from your house. When the restrictions were brought in around us (after a disgraceful piece of figure manipulation by the Tory council to make sure they got the vote they wanted) three roads had no bike parking at all. Luckily I had seen the plans and made representations to the council who eventually relented (perhaps due to the interest from the local paper) and bike parking areas were eventually allocated. I also had to complain that a fairly long road on a steep hill only had bike parking at the top and the bottom. Again they eventually put one half way up. Why they won't allow "mixed" parking is beyond me. They say it's been proved not to work. Unfortunately they can't tell me who proved it or answer how in 40 years of parking a bike on the road I'd never had a problem and neither have any of my friends. A bunch of fucking wankers whatever colour they are.
FYI for anyone parking bikes in London . Chinatown NCP in basement is free for all bikes. Can't get any more central than that. Happy trails B
