Voucher mayhem

Mayhem

The figleaf solution of vouchers is now slowly coming into being after the meters have been turned off and/or removed. Stand in any high street or car park and watch the arm waving and exasperation of motorists who don't have the technical means to pay ( otherwise known as a mobile telephone ). I do not think that many motorists are going to adjust, I think they are going to go elsewhere.

I walked across the Stapylton Road car park on Saturday, just 2 weeks before Christmas, at 3pm. There were 21 empty spaces which is a third of the car park. This pattern is being repeated across the entire borough. Shoppers are voting with their wheels.

Now if vouchers are to be an alternative they need to be easily available and at prices of £1, £2, £3, £5 and £7 which are the possible prices in High Barnet.

Can you buy all of these in a local shop? No, only by email ( the people who don't have a mobile telephone might just be the same people who don't have a computer - aargh ). That seems a bit ridiculous to me. If the council was committed to vouchers it would make them widely available and in all denominations.

I saw the wraparound in the local paper which said vouchers at £1 and £2 were available but when I tried to buy them I couldn't. I was too quick to try it seems.

This is what the Parking Process Team have now written:

Parking vouchers can only be requested via e-mail

We require the your full name, full postal address, the number of vouchers you require and contact telephone number. We will then process your request in the back office and our payment team will contact you ( will it be this year? ) to take payment over the phone via credit/debit card (we will not be able to process cheques and postal orders for orders placed via e-mail.)

Please note that presently the Parking Vouchers are sold as single vouchers, each voucher costs £2.00 and allows motorists to park in a ‘Pay by Phone Bay’ and a ‘Shared Use Bay’ only, for a 1 hour period. They are not valid in Residents’ Bays, Doctors Bays, Disabled Bays or Suspended Bays, or any bay that is reserved for a specific class of vehicle.

Only the 1 hour vouchers at a charge of £2.00 each can be purchased at the moment.

Kindly send your request to parkingvouchers@barnet.gov.uk

Yours appealingly

Miss Feezance