Letter: I shop at Sainsbury’s because I will not pay to park in Shrewsbury
Friday 18th March 2011, 6:00AM GMT.
Letter: A recent article in the Star refers to the Shop in the Loop team wishing to extract money from Sainsbury’s so that they can promote the Shop in the Loop experience in return for planning permission. (Read the story here)
The reason I go to Sainsbury’s and out of town is that I don’t want to have to pay Shropshire Council to park, simple, as they say.
And what do the local authorities do with the money?
Waste it.
You should be fighting the authorities to remove parking charges around the town.
When they do I will shop within the loop again.
Until such a time, I wish them luck.
DA Cooper
Shrewsbury
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Don’t hide your cheapness behind local politics.
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By the same token, don’t make cheap irrelevant comments
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My fella was at the Job Centre the other day. Luckily found two jobs now and so this was his last session.
As always, he parked next to the cycle racks on the edge of High Street on the Square (by Starbucks). I have seen MANY many motorbikes and mopeds doing the same.
He got a £70 parking fine and was out of the Job Centre within two minutes of receiving it. The charge states that the vehicle was viewed there at a start time of 12:14 and end time of 12:14… so the damn traffic officer didn’t even give him a chance to get back to the bike, just ticketed him!
If he were to park in a normal road-side bay or car park, he wouldn’t have to pay the parking charges anyway BECAUSE it was a motorbike. what a shambles – like we have £70 to fork out (or even £35, because they kindly “half” it if you pay within 14 days)
Thanks Shropshire Council! You make town worth visiting!!!
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Shrewsbury Lass,
I was in town on Friday and managed to get a parking ticket, like your fella, by Starbucks, were I hasssen to add I have parked there for the last 10years and in the previous few years spoken to a Traffic Warden or as they are now known Civil Enforcement Officer to confirm its ok and the reply? Always been yes.
I am in the process of challenging it and I suggest you do as well.
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How I agree! Being compelled to pay for parking at a shopping venue sends the message “We don’t want you to come here to spend your money.”
We moved from Leicester to Telford 12 years ago and now enjoy free parking in Wellington, where the message is “Park free so you can spend your money here!”
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I don’t mean to be rude but what is in Wellington to get excited about? You can’t compare it to Shrewsbury!
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Well, as far charity shops per square yard you can!
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whats to get about excited about – free parking for one. I do agree you cant compare it to shrewsbury as comparing an authority trying to attract money and customers to one that is driving them away would be very unfair in my view.
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The parking charges are the only way to stop people from using the car parks as dumping grounds. Perhaps if shops gave a refund when people spent a certain amount it would encourage people to shop there.
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That’s got to be the best suggestion I’ve heard regarding parking charges and the loss they cause to town centres
Fair all round I’d say
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Asda tried to get that at the Telfod Centre site when parking charges were first introduced and were told they couldn’t offer it/validate tickets….
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Wouldn’t offer it, more likely.
Holloway multi storey car park in Birmingham uses exactly the same barrier and payment system. The Radisson Blu hotel just around the corner has an agreed special rate and a ticket validation terminal.
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@The Original Jake – I can assure you that ASDA wanted to offer at TTC this however the folks in charge of the parking wouldn’t allow them to validate the tickets
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I only go into the centre if I really have to. Parking fees are just to high. And then you read about campaigns to get us back into the town! Cut the parking fees and people will come back. Have a trial run, see how it goes.
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the council probably uses the fees from the parking to pay for the marketing effort encouraging people to come into town – !
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Visited Shrewsbury for first time today as moving to Shropshire in April. Shocked at having to pay £1.40 for less than one hour in town centre. This is more expensive than in the south east, where i live now. Does not encourage a visit to town.
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Paul, you’ll quickly learn, as I did, when moving here from the South, that Shrewsbury is a beautiful architectural museum piece ruined by ridiculous parking charges and only token branches of the big stores. Thankfully there are now some great shops out of town at Harlescott and Meole Brace which cater for all your needs and have loads of free parking. Alternatively, for less fuel than it costs to park in Shrewsbury, you can take a short ride down the A5 to Telford. Cheap parking, loads of good shops, all on the level and under cover. There used to be some good small town shops at places like Wem and Ellesmere, but our Council is planning to blight these with parking charges too.
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The price of parking in the town makes me so angry. When will they listen to what people in Shrewsbury want. It’s not such a ridiculous request. Just make the parking cheaper.
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OK why not use the park and ride service???
I use it when ever I want to visit Shrewsbury town centre.
Less cars less pollution…
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I think we pay enough in road tax and council tax,fuel duty and VAT.
Furthermore what do the council do with all the money?
I am lucky i have places to park without paying in Shrewsbury otherwise I’d shop somewhere else.
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If all parking charges were removed from the town centre, you would be complaining because it was impossible to find a space.
If you want to get into the town centre, why not use the park and ride. It costs £1.60 no matter how long you are there.
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Aaron is spot on. The park & ride is by far the most effective & convenient way of getting into the heart of any town or city operating such a scheme. It will mean you have to plan your shopping trip in so much that you would be ill advised to make any big / bulky purchases as soon as you arrive should you plan to be a few houirs in town however thats little comprimise overall really. Myself, if I am visiting a town or city that I am not so familiar with I will use the park & ride.
The P&R depots are always well sign-posted & easy to find & the buses seem to be quite frequent.
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and it’s just a stone’s throw from Sainsbury to the Meole Park and Ride so you can do your supermarket shop then go on the bus into town without any parking charges. Like having your Sainsbury cake and eating it!
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Agree with both above and have used P&R for some time rather than pay SCC outrageous parking charges. They’ve finally beaten me though, because from next month they’ve stopped accepting concessionary passes on P&R. Bye Bye Shrewsbury, shan’t be seeing you again!!
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Why not park in Meole and use the normal bus service into town then?
Come on use your head before you stap youe feet!!
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The best idea is to shop via the net , grocery’s , and most things you can now buy on the net and have delivered to your door with very little hassle and full protection . With the current cost of fuel this then frees you up to use the car more often for more enjoyable outings instead of a trip to town , to get stuck in traffic and then the bore which is to shuffle around town and cue and all the other rubbish which goes with it.
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Don’t agree fully with all things Mr Finch highlights. It seems he has bad experiences related to shopping. However his blog focuses on the benifits of internet shopping of which there are indeed many, I know.
Mr Finchs comments made me wonder as to how many of Mr Hall’s ‘Shop-in-the-Loop’ members have internet sales facilities themselves? Certainly the high street chains do!
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This is one of those issues that goes round in circles. The town centre is built on a hill with a medieval layout – narrow streets surrounded by a river! Parking is of a premium everywhere. How do you stop there being too many cars in such a small area without charging but at the same time encourage shoppers in to the centre? The Park and Ride Scheme is one of the best I’ve seen in the Country but I also think that parking charges are far too high.
Of course, we want a vibrant town centre with locals and visitors able to buy from a wide range of shops! The fear is parking charges and traffic will drive people away not bring them closer!
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You cannot park a motorbike at a normal cycle stand.
In Shrewsbury you do NOT have to pay to park a motorbike.
You can park for free at Mardol, or in Barker Street Car Park, if you park in the motorbike bay. There are others too, and always space.
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Catch 22. If parking in town was free, then everybody who’s employed in town centre shops would drive to work and fill the parking spaces (and then wonder why their shops are empty).
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Not forgetting all the people that live in the town centre who can now use the car parks for free and for as long as they want, clogging them up further.
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It doesn’t have to be free, just cheaper.
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Agree with Barbara.
Lowry Centre in Manchester have a brilliant scheme, 4 hours free secure parking provided you make a purchase and have ticket vaildated by shop, 6 hours if you use a restaurant or the cinema, alternatively pay four pounds an hour if you just want to use it as a car park.
I believe the system could be optimised to work in Shrewsbury’s car parks within the loop, say 2 hours free parking if a participating Shop In The Loop retailer validates card.
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People want free parking in Shrewsbury, but then oppose the north west relief road.
I’m not an expert but even I can see whats going to happen here!!!
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Increase parking fees ten fold, do the park and ride for free with twice as many buses, add more free bicycle and motorcycle parking, add more disabled parking spots.
Maybe add a London style congestion charge to enter the loop.
And before you start, I am not anti-car. Anti many things, but not cars.
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That wil never happen in a million years…
This is Shrewsbury NOT London, and as usual with this subject, it has raised all sorts of suggestions. Some of them good and some of them not so good, increasing parking fees ten fold falls into the later.
It’s all a matter of choice, if you choose to shop in town expect to pay car parking fees. Obviously over zealous CEO’s don’t help, but you can complain and weed these out.
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Cars are not a problem for Shrewsbury parking is,it could be cheaper but hey ho.
Park and ride is not all it is cracked up to be if you buy a large item from a shop say in the Darwin centre or the other you still have fetch your car in to town to collect it .
What the council should be looking at is banning the large bus through the town of Shrewsbury, we do not have a need.
Park and ride customers should be told to board at the main bus terminal, all buses should arrive at and depart from the main terminal.
3-4 times a day a small mini bus could then be permitted to travel through the town and only pick up those who suffer from disabilities .
You cant have an on street cafe culture with large poison fumed smelly buses pulling up every 15 minutes, Shrewsbury is neither a town which is suitable for large volumes of cycles we are not oxford etc we are not spread out it is a SMALL market town.
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Is everyone forgetting park and ride ?
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Paying for parking is not really the issue is it? No-one goes into Shrewsbury town centre to supermarket shop as there isn’t a big one. As for motorcycles, there are plenty of free bays around the town but not perhaps next to the job centre. I would suggest people on a limited budget could be more careful where they park. As most people think they can do whatever they like these days they will have to learn the hard way when they get it wrong. It may be inconvenient to walk a few more yards and people may have being doing it for years but you got caught. It’s not the Councils fault!
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You are so right Original Jake.This happened in Telford some years back.Shoppers couldnt get anywhere near shops by 9am.The council closed the car parks till 9.30 resulting in room for shoppers.People working in town had to walk a bit further.
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