Are we getting too many parking fines in Ludlow? This is your opportunity to comment and vote.
We councillors have received a number of complaints about fines slapped on cars parking around the Market Square area in the evening. There have been early morning fines too.
Ludlow pub landlord, Adam Tutt, recently had a rage on Facebook about the fines:
Two parking tickets this week one at 10 am Sunday outside my house the other in a loading bay whilst dealing with issue at work. Its profiteering clear and simple creeping around at night stopping people working or relaxing in town!
On the other side of the debate, people tell us that bad parking is creating problems for access to properties.
What do you think? Please comment and vote below.
There are fears that parking, especially around the entrance to Quality Square, could impede access to emergency vehicles. I agree with that. I am forever angry with drivers that park their vehicles on pavements blocking access for disabled people and parents with child buggies. I’d have them hauled away if we had the capacity to do so.
I think it is wrong that fines are being imposed on people who aren’t clear what the rules are. This is especially true around the Market Square, where it is not clear when and when you can park. I am unhappy with fining motorists who make a technical break of the rules but are not creating a problem.
But at times, there are cars stacked everywhere. We must keep the highways open, especially for pedestrians and people of limited mobility. No one should be forced to step into the road because a car or van has parked across the pavement. Drivers park on pavements to allow other drivers to pass easily. They too often seem to have no regard for pedestrians.
We are a historic town. Parking spaces are inevitably in short supply.
That means we must strike a balance. We must allow visitors to park so they can spend money in our town. We must allow residents and businesses to get access to their properties. Ludlow Assembly Rooms relies on people driving into the town centre to view evening performances.
Councillor Viv Parry has arranged a meeting between unitary councillors and enforcement officers on Wednesday afternoon, 3 August. Please comment below and please vote. We need your views by Wednesday.
From the comments made it would seem that responsibility for monitoring on street car parking should be transferred to the Town Council, then at least Ludlow could get some financial benefit which could be ploughed back into improving car parking for visitors and residents alike and subsidising the Park and Ride.
Sometimes it is more important to encourage visitors, than just making it convenient for those who work in the town. In the town centre all day parking should not be provided except for visitors staying in B & B’s with no on street parking.
There are opportunities for locals to opt for parking in the blue and red zones.
With regard to those attending the Assembly Rooms and other evening functions, more needs to be done to encourage parking on surface car parks!
while you are discussing pavement blockages what about A-boards on narrow streets making it equally hard for buggies and disabled scooters – even shoppers with trollies.
It seems to me wholly unexceptionable to park in Market Square, inside the double yellow lines, at night for various purposes such as Assembly Rooms access and rehearsals for instance. There is also just going out for a meal or to a pub.
Elderly drivers find this parking area more reassuring than the Car Park, where there is a steep and dark walk late at night to contemplate. We have to remember that there are no buses at night in Ludlow, so there is not much alternative to driving. We are, like it or not, an elderly population. A long and lonely walk home after our evening engagement is not a realistic prospect.
The thoroughfare close to Quality Square, connecting it to the one-way traffic flow, is terribly narrow. For emergency vehicle access this should in any case be widened.
I have heard it said this week that from five in the evening Ludlow is a ghost town. When I park in the Square at 7 on a Tuesday for a rehearsal, that is my impression too. How sad, for a town known for fine dining. The last thing we want here is for Ludlow to become one of those towns whose parking says clearly: “Keep driving, friend, you’re not wanted here.” There are plenty of those. There are also vociferous parking objectors who, being young, fit, energetic men, fail to imagine how an elderly, single, apprehensive woman feels about enjoying much the same kind of evening out that they enjoy, whether for serious or less serious activities.
We are contemplating the development of several substantial housing sites in Ludlow. The proposed influx of new residents will be looking around for something to do and somewhere to go in the evenings. Soon we must add those to the mix of hopeful drivers wanting to park and see the film/go to yoga/have a drink and so on. Should we send them down the road elsewhere for their evening out? The Choral Society is looking for more members. Are we to mention quietly that parking is strictly in the town car parks?
The car is here to stay. Here, without buses, we depend on it. Alienating drivers will simply close Ludlow down: better by far that we look at creating more opportunities for parking, not clamping down on those that we can find.
Personally I feel discretion is the key, I have had dealings with but two of the (what used to be traffic wardens) and one is officious (despite my wife being of limited mobility) and the other is nice and understanding.
The one wanted to slap a ticket on my car, the other was very nice to me and allowed me to stay a further couple of minutes….
We need the latter..
I can see some frustrations but after 6 pm I can’t see a problem with parking on castle square maybe it could be marked out with bays in an aesthetically pleasing way that won’t obstruct pavement users or access to businesses as well as emergency services
The problem has been there for many years but only since the Parking fine issue has it really been considered
Hopefully common sense will prevail and therefore people parking irresponsibly or causing hardship to others should face a parking fine
The problem is inconsistency in enforcement and a failure to re paint road lines. There are evenings where access to Quality Square is blocked and yet the car park is less than a quarter full. (I have little sympathy for people being caught when they are too idle to use the car park, a few yards away, for free in evenings.) Parking in Broad Street on yellow lines down to Bell Lane junction means pulling out of Bell Lane is done blind. This is very dangerous. Sometimes this area is enforced, sometimes it is not. Also there are evenings when the parking in Broad Street from the Butter Cross downwards is such that you would be hard pressed to get a fire engine down there. Irresponsible parking should be penalized but done so consistently.
Perhaps we should move to the system and get rid of yellow lines by having the system where you can only park in marked bays. This would certainly get rid of much unsightly yellow paint in the conservation area
I asked the two people who were busy giving out parking tickets where in the square it is safe to park and was told on the red tarmacked area where the market stalls are -any cobbled areas are not allowed !
There is complete inconsistency in the application of parking control. I can see no problem with parking in Castle Square in the evenings. The present policy of discouraging this by the imposition of fines will have a direct effect upon the viability of the Assembly Rooms, which are in a difficult enough financial state already. The “wardens” rarely go outside the central area. There is currently a car parked in Old Street that has been there for at least 3 days in breach of the 2 hour limit. This is unfair on residents who pay an annual fee to park here. The fact that Ludlow gets no financial benefit from the fines merely adds insult to injury.
My husband had a parking ticket one Sunday morning last year while attending church.,do people want Ludlow to become a ghost town, i travel to merry hill shopping centre where the parking is free because lets face it ludlow offers very little when it comes to clothing shops especially for those less affluent.
I totally agree with Tim especially as the car park is free In the evening. Parking in Quality Square itself should also be prohibited except for residents.
Our car was parked in the loading bay outside Poyner’s shop in Broad Street on Tuesday 19 July whilst my husband and I took items into our property there.
We delayed going to Broad Street until the evening to avoid obstructing commercial deliveries during business hours. I waited until two driving school cars had vacated the loading bay and then parked within the markings. The car displayed our Ludlow parking permit and I could have parked lower down the street in the allotted parking bays, but we needed to use the loading bay as we had items to load and unload. My husband is 70 in three weeks and and I am 68 this year. We are no longer quite as sprightly as young delivery men but we were there solely for the purpose of unloading and taking away as a continuous and necessary process. We wanted to be as quick as possible as we had not had our supper back in Corve Street.
The PCN states that the vehicle was observed from 18.33 to 18.41 which is eight minutes. The loading bay sign does not give any information regarding the restrictions applying. I have subsequently asked several traffic wardens and have been given many conflicting answers and contradictory information. To quote, five minutes, ten minutes and fifteen minutes. We understand that loading and unloading times are restricted but if the rules are not clear or stated it is impossible to know whether we are contravening the law.
In summary we parked in a designated loading bay for the sole purpose of unloading and loading outside business hours. We were not causing an obstruction and any offence we committed can only be on the narrowest of technicalities which are not clear or publicly displayed.
We believe that dishing out parking penalties in this way has nothing to do with keeping the traffic flowing freely but is wholly intended to raise as much money as possible which will have a detrimental effect on Ludlow.
To be fair though, Anna, you and Robert do tend to park for a bit! Perhaps beyond the arguable time for “loading”? And the wardens do notice! We got a ticket outside Boots, likewise in the loading bay. At the time, protesting we’d only been there for nine minutes; just to pick up some odds and sods. Yes, he said, but you were here for ten minutes yesterday, for over 15 minutes on Wednesday and then again on Tuesday, etc. etc! They really are the eyes and ears! Especially when you’ve mounted the kerb, as I know we both do! In Broad Street, I try to park lower down, whenever possible. Well away from the King Street junction. Just to help the vehicles, particularly buses, swinging around the Buttercross. Ideally, the parking these days would all be deregulated. Cash cow it may be, but it’s killing off the indie shops. The young man in the deli is spitting venom over this. He was struggling even before the parking clampdown in Castle Square.
Getting a bit personal don’t you think !