Shropshire Star

ParkRight should use discretion

LETTER - In the past we had real traffic wardens who operated under the control of the local police. Nowadays we have ParkRight. Need I say more?

Published

LETTER - Having been a resident of Bridgnorth for 30 years, and having worked on the High Street for most of that time, I feel I am reasonably well qualified to comment on the various efforts made over the years to deal with the problem of parking and traffic in general around the town.

In the past we had real traffic wardens who operated under the control of the local police.

In the main they were local people who knew the shopkeepers and the car drivers who regularly frequented the town centre.

Their aim was to establish a good rapport with these people while maintaining traffic flow and ensuring safe passage, for example, for emergency vehicles and pedestrians.

This as a rule, was achieved by a few carefully chosen words of advice, or simply by their presence on the street.

Certainly they issued an occasional parking ticket, but only as a last resort.

Nowadays we have ParkRight.

Need I say more?

When calling into a town centre cafe, I encountered all three parking attendants dining together.

Who was out patrolling the street preventing traffic snarl-ups?

Perhaps the fact it was raining had something to do with it, or were they simply seeing who had the biggest tally that day?

Similarly do they need to patrol the council car parks in pairs while the High Street grinds to a halt?

The needs of the average driver seem to be the last thing on the minds of these people, and words such as "using common sense" or "discretion" are definitely not.

A K Devey, Bridgnorth