Sniffy "no parking" notice

Thu 3 May 2012, 20:01

There's a lot of enthusiasm in Witney for the street-car concept; the indefatigable Kevin Hickman of Sustainable Witney is doing lots towards it. Charlbury of course doesn't have the same mass of population, but maybe a more favourable demographic...?

Thu 3 May 2012, 17:15

Street Car is a fabulous idea, I used it regularly in both Oxford and London - though you'd need to get a good feel for how many people would use it regularly to be sure it was viable. I also love the Charlbury numberplate idea :~)

Wed 2 May 2012, 19:49

I too love the special Charlbury registration plate! We have discussed this hot topic on the Town Council many times. I will be proposing that we invite a company like Street Car or similar to undertake a feasibility study for providing a community car or cars (and perhaps a van) to be parked on the Spendlove site. This would allow people like Steve and Catherine who don't use their cars for a daily commute to pay for a vehicle by the hour or for a weekend or longer. If this were to happen, we would certainly dispose of our second car, which we rarely need. Though we're lucky enough to have off-street parking. It might even be worth us getting rid of our main car too. We need to know more about how these schemes work. Oh, and let's encourage more use of bikes in town! I cycled the wrong way down several streets in London today quite legally. Just a small blue and white sign attached to the no-entry sign which says "Except bicycles"

Mon 30 Apr 2012, 16:54

Thanks, Richard and Steven.I did say that I have no issue with anyone parking in the street. I do however believe that long term parking in the centre of town is not helpful to the community.
Best wishes
Trevor

Sun 29 Apr 2012, 20:37

Thanks Richard - and that number plate's a fun idea!

Thanks Malcolm for your supportive reply too.

Trevor, we're clearly both concerned with community matters in Charlbury, which is a great thing and not to be taken for granted, so thanks also for your reply, even though we don't quite share the same views on parking.

Best wishes,

Steven

Sun 29 Apr 2012, 12:12

Pray tell, how should one discern whether a car is a local resident's car? Perhaps we should have a special Charlbury registration plate like this:

(I wish I'd thought of that a month ago for the website April Fool!)

More seriously, whether or not one agrees with Trevor's contention (personally I don't, and am very happy for anyone to park outside my house on Market Street, whether resident, shopper or commuter), an anonymous capital-letters note is absolutely the wrong way to do it. It has connotations of "public shaming" and is hardly the right way to present Charlbury as a welcoming community. If you have an issue, it is surely less confrontational to write a polite, signed letter and put it in a sealed envelope under the windscreen wiper.

For reasons of civility, we don't allow anonymous or pseudonymous posting on the Charlbury Website. It saddens me greatly that people think it's acceptable in real life.

Sun 29 Apr 2012, 11:44

I make no apology for the notice. The car has been parked unmoved from Monday to Friday for each of the last two weeks; and there was nothing to suggest it was a local resident's car. We do have parking problems in Charlbury with people often from outside Charlbury who park in the middle of town and go to the station off to work for the week or going on holiday for longer. The centre of the town needs regular movement of cars to allow access to shops, Memorial Hall events and activities, Corner House and businesses,deliveries,as well as residents. My concern is for the community. I have no issue with anyone parking in a responsible way anywhere in the town. Our car is often parked on the street as the access to our off street parking is frequently obstructed.

Fri 27 Apr 2012, 23:29 (last edited on Fri 27 Apr 2012, 23:33)

Yes I know the person who left you the note, as they left a similar one on my car a couple of years ago. I too continued to park in that area and was confronted by the said person. I explained to them I pay quite a lot of money in tax and duty to use my car on the road and therefore so long as it is legally parked I feel I have a right to park anywhere so long i'm not unduly inconveniencing anyone. It is a public highway and therefore anyone is entitled to park there. Their protests are rather hypocritical as they have off road parking anyway and don't need the parking space there.

Fri 27 Apr 2012, 20:37

We've just removed a mean-spirited note from our car windscreen. The car was parked on Brown's Lane, between the Memorial Hall and the Co-op, and has been there for a few days as we fortunately don't need to drive very much. The notice says "This is not a long term car park" in large unfriendly capital letters. I'm posting here as a mild cathartic rant.

We live on Sheep Street, where there isn't a great deal of car parking space (in common with much of the centre of town) and while our first place to look for a space is near our house, sometimes there isn't room - whether due to other residents, people visiting the pubs or shops, or welcome tourists. So we park where we can nearby - Brown's Lane, Church Street etc. We're happy with this - if we wanted our own parking spot we would have lived somewhere else.

What doesn't seem very friendly is that someone in a nice community like Charlbury imagines that the road outside their house is theirs, for their enjoyment and use alone.

As we don't have a garage or a drive, we will need to continue to park our car wherever it fits. Perhaps if in future you're considering leaving a sniffy note on somebody's car then maybe just don't bother, and relax, as it really doesn't matter whose car is outside your house.

Rant over - have a lovely weekend!

Steven