Can I park here?

GJH said:
And, as Jim's post #52 above shows, the size of the Fiat 500 has grown accordingly to accommodate the bags.
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I'd say it grew to accommodate the bellies
The airbags aren't that big Graham
 
The spaces in our new LIDL are definitely wider than other car parks.(y)
But then being in the country we need to park our tractors and combine harvesters!
I'll measure them next time I'm using it.
 
Northernraider said:
Nice idea ...problem is local authorities are famous for being short sighted
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Only a shift in customer attitudes will change anything - and that won't happen when out-of-town stores with cheaper goods and easy parking exist. Whenever an new out-of-town store is in the planning stage there are howls of protest about it killing off local shops in the town centre. When it's built everyone uses it no doubt including the people who disagreed with the build. The solution is easy: don't use it, it will fail, and the town centre survives. Internet shopping is just the ultimate out-of-town experience with home delivery as a bonus. Nothing will change because people are people and no-one wants to spend more than they have to or to have reduced choice. The answer for town centres - and it is happening to some - is to nurture small specialist shops, improve the eateries, and improve the appearance and ambience of the town centre. The conflict there is - you guessed - parking. It's hard to have a town centre that provides a pleasant pedestrian experience if it's full of cars. Larger towns and cities have park & ride that generally work well. It isn't a cost-effective solution for smaller towns and for those a clear policy and good planning are essential. As I say I think some are getting there but for some the layout of the town and the major routes that haven't bypassed it present a real challenge.
 
scotjimland said:
Cars are definitely getting bigger both longer and wider .. car park spaces are not keeping up with this trend.. but some are definitely wider than others.

In our estate, some houses have paved drives with two rows of concrete, laid down in the 60s.. .. modern cars straddle them ..

A picture says a thousand words.. google any popular car for the old and new size comparison.. .

Fiat 500 then and now
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Using photographs of Dinky Toys is cheating.

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GJH said:
I'd rather trust factual articles than just an opinion.
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All cars have grown to accommodate safety systems. Not airbags that are the size of a folded napkin in an ashtray. Crumple zones front and rear, side reinforcement, a safety cell in the middle, and struts and bars to improve rigidity. Those are the changes that have made cars fatter, longer, and heavier. Fatter is the industry standard term.:D
 
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Adding personalised plates does nothing for the discussion ...................
 
tonyidle said:
Only a shift in customer attitudes will change anything - and that won't happen when out-of-town stores with cheaper goods and easy parking exist. Whenever an new out-of-town store is in the planning stage there are howls of protest about it killing off local shops in the town centre. When it's built everyone uses it no doubt including the people who disagreed with the build. The solution is easy: don't use it, it will fail, and the town centre survives. Internet shopping is just the ultimate out-of-town experience with home delivery as a bonus. Nothing will change because people are people and no-one wants to spend more than they have to or to have reduced choice. The answer for town centres - and it is happening to some - is to nurture small specialist shops, improve the eateries, and improve the appearance and ambience of the town centre. The conflict there is - you guessed - parking. It's hard to have a town centre that provides a pleasant pedestrian experience if it's full of cars. Larger towns and cities have park & ride that generally work well. It isn't a cost-effective solution for smaller towns and for those a clear policy and good planning are essential. As I say I think some are getting there but for some the layout of the town and the major routes that haven't bypassed it present a real challenge.
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Noticed a lot of underground parking in space and Portugal even in some of the little towns and villages.

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Wee Bold Davy said:
We visit Shrewsbury every other weekend. We normally park in the multi story and make a point of never staying longer than 3 hours for which we normally pay £3.50 On Saturday we parked for our usual period, we knew that the charges had changed but we thought that they had gone DOWN to 70p per hour as so many of the shops in Pride Hill Shopping Centre are lying empty.
Like you Janine we got a shock. Our usual £3.50 turned into £7.10 as we went past our usual 3 hours and hadn't been too concerned as we thought that the prices had gone DOWN. Nowhere in the car park did we see the new tariffs advertised although it did say that new tariffs started on 5th November.
I queried it at the attendants kiosk and was told that the cost was £1.80 per hour including VAT. He said that the 70p per hour was at the car park across the river. Think we'll be doing our shopping at Wrexham which is 5 miles further for us, but the parking is only £1.60 for 3 hours
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Info Shrewsbury has 3 x Park and Rides which are £2.50 for a couple RETURN on the P+R bus which has about 6 stops around the centre and you can stay all day
 
Northernraider said:
Noticed a lot of underground parking in space and Portugal even in some of the little towns and villages.
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I'm sure it can be done here. Just need the vision - and money - to do it. Where I live (Kendal) the town has a major (in terms of size and width) road through it built in the '70s. On that road are the bus station, DHSS building, and a Telephone Exchange none of which are very pretty. Opposite the bus station is a car park. Built above the bus station is the towns largest (multi-storey) car park the opposite end of which has level access to the Shopping Centre and main street. The town struggles with parking for people who work here never mind visitors. To my mind the most obvious option is to join up the two car parks that are on opposite sides of the road by continuing the multi-storey over the road and onto the opposite one. The road would pass underneath and businesses could be located underneath as well. It would be large and totally out of keeping with the traditional town architecture but then the existing buildings on that road are already like that and because it is relatively new road it is separate from the rest of the town. I have no idea whether that is a viable idea but I do get the impression that where small towns are successfully coping with traffic it's because a progressive authority has thought 'out-of-the-box'.
 
GJH said:
I'd rather trust factual articles than just an opinion.
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The reason the mini in particular is larger is because it's built on a bmw 1 series chassis
That way it's cheaper to build but gathers 2 different types of buyers those who want a bmw and those daft enough to be nostalgic about a car that shared nothing with the original bar a name and a central mounted instrument clock :)

Sod all to do with an airbag.
 
GJH said:
The biggest factor in the increased size of cars, especially width, is safety (or so I have read anyway).
Those side airbags have to go somewhere.
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I’ve got my own side bags. Ready built in!:D
 
Cheshirecat57 said:
Info Shrewsbury has 3 x Park and Rides which are £2.50 for a couple RETURN on the P+R bus which has about 6 stops around the centre and you can stay all day
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Park and Ride is a great thing as long you don't have to carry shopping around all day

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you want good sized parking bays shop at cost co they must build to american spec
 
This is a reply I received from Wealden District Council in Sussex on parking my Autosleeper Symbol.

Motor homes are not permitted within our car parks even if used with presentation of a Disabled badge.
However, providing a small motor home fits within one of our parking bays and does not encroach or overhang onto another bay or pedestrian walkway then we do use our discretion and would allow such a vehicle to use our car park. Should your vehicle not fit into this criteria then you would not be permitted to park within our car parks and doing so would incur a parking fine.

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Christopher Hayler said:
This is a reply I received from Wealden District Council in Sussex on parking my Autosleeper Symbol.

Motor homes are not permitted within our car parks even if used with presentation of a Disabled badge.
However, providing a small motor home fits within one of our parking bays and does not encroach or overhang onto another bay or pedestrian walkway then we do use our discretion and would allow such a vehicle to use our car park. Should your vehicle not fit into this criteria then you would not be permitted to park within our car parks and doing so would incur a parking fine.
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Replies like this doesn't make life any easier. I wonder what their attitude would be to a works Ford Transit or similar. PS. Love your dogs, we've got a Bichon Frise cross with a Cavachon, looks nothing like yours :whistle:
 
The E. LeClerc s/market CP across the road here in Poland does not have lined spaces - people just park at a sensible distance according to their vehicle size and door lenghts. Remember 2-door cars have longer doors, for access to rear seats, than 4-door cars.

Maybe 'Town Planners' did not interfere with use of privately-acquired land and let the owners control their needs.
 
Wee Bold Davy said:
Replies like this doesn't make life any easier. I wonder what their attitude would be to a works Ford Transit or similar. PS. Love your dogs, we've got a Bichon Frise cross with a Cavachon, looks nothing like yours :whistle:
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Their attitude would be exactly the same. It isn't a matter of making life less easy but of practicality.
We have relatives in Forest Row and the Wealden Council car parks there are small, designed to serve the requirements of a relatively small town.
There is a list and map of all Wealden car parks , together with a link to the parking order.
Anyone really interested could fairly easily use Google Streetview to research the various car parks and suggest to Wealden Council ways in which they could make them usable for motorhome parking. I would certainly be interested to see the results of such an exercise - but I don't suppose anyone will be bothered enough :-)
 
GJH said:
Their attitude would be exactly the same. It isn't a matter of making life less easy but of practicality.
We have relatives in Forest Row and the Wealden Council car parks there are small, designed to serve the requirements of a relatively small town.
There is a list and map of all Wealden car parks , together with a link to the parking order.
Anyone really interested could fairly easily use Google Streetview to research the various car parks and suggest to Wealden Council ways in which they could make them usable for motorhome parking. I would certainly be interested to see the results of such an exercise - but I don't suppose anyone will be bothered enough :)
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Thanks Graham, it's not a part of the world I've been to, so I'm not familiar with it. In the short time we've had our MH wherever we decide to go I spend a lot of time on Google Streetview as we like our trips to be as stress free as possible, it's a fabulous facility as is your hard work which is very much appreciated :xThumb:
 

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