I drive a large car and find it hard to fit it into a UK parking space. As such I loath car parks with a passion, especially supermarket car parks. Having worked on insurance software I know that a lot of reported accidents occurred in car parks, especially door scratches and dents, or broken wing mirrors due to tight parking spaces.
The requirements for the size of a car parking space were drawn up in the 1970s and they haven’t really changed since. In fact recent studies have found that there are over a hundred vehicle models on the road, including mine, that will not fit within your average car parking space today. Cars are getting bigger. Even with camera assist, both the front and rear of my vehicle overhang. The sides are just inside but the doors will need to open into the adjacent spaces in order for the passengers to get out.
With the price of land being at a premium, car park owners are loath to redraw the spaces to give users more space as it means less vehicle capacity and therefore less earnings.
Isn’t it time that car parking space dimensions were updated to reflect today’s vehicles?
Tag: parking
Private car parks
Private car parks can be a nightmare. You pull into an area you don’t know, needing to park, and before you know it you have driven into a private car park.
The first indication is the signs on posts. Usually badly lit. In the UK there is an unwritten rule that if you find yourself in a private car park you have five minutes to pay or get out. This rule is currently being debated as the fines for not paying within five minutes can be as much as a second hand car!
Personally, I’ve had to go through the dispute process on several occasions. On one occasion there were no spaces and I offered to submit my dashcam recordings as evidence. On another they only accepted digital payments by app and I had no phone signal to download it. Again I had dashcam evidence to prove that as soon as I realised this I attempted to leave but was stuck in a queue for the exit.
If you don’t have a dashcam then it’s your word against theirs. If you know that you are in the right you can always ask them to prove a negative. Prove that you were not in a queue trying to get out of the car park minutes after entering. Prove that there was adequate phone signal at that time for your network.
These private car park companies have gotten the art of sending out legal-looking fines and threatening wording down to a fine art. Plus they will offer a discount if you pay faster, nevermind the fact that you shouldn’t be paying anything at all.
It’s gotten to the point where I hate parking. If I have to park somewhere I try to do my research beforehand to know where I can park safely, either for free or in a local authority run car park.