Car Parking & Motoring News

Today the BBC is reporting a parking story that you don’t see every day – an attempt to park in a Paris metro station.

The 26 year old driver mistook the stairs as a ramp leading to an underground car park, attempted to drive down them, before fortunately braking in time before the car disappeared down into the metro station.

The trapped car quickly became a spectacle, attracting onlookers from around the local area in Paris.

The driver, Johan, explained the mistake saying:

“There’s a sign saying ‘Haussmann Parking’ right in front… I made a mistake”

This is just a quick post to say a huge thanks to all those who have sent us a testimonial over the past couple of months – you know who you are! It’s greatly appreciated.

Here are some of the things that people have been saying:

“My space was easily rented and this was good value compared to other sites so I would recommend this to others.”

“YourParkingSpace works really well. It’s simple for people to use and it’s excellent value.”

“Have just rented a space through your website, it was very easy and quick with lovely people replying to the ad. I just wish I had more spaces! I would definately recommend you as much simpler and cheaper than the other sites.”

Feel free to read through all our testimonials, the oldest ones date back to the summer of 2008.

At last something’s being done to tackle all the disruption caused by roadworks. Utility companies will now be fined up to £2,500 per day if they decide to dig up road during peak hours. Not only will this discourage them from disrupting motorists during rush hour, but it should also make them work much faster.

The sight of unoccupied roadwords is all too common on the roads at the moment.

Norman Baker, the Transport Minister said:

“It is incredibly frustrating to find vital roads being dug up in the middle of the rush hour or, even worse, traffic lanes closed when no one is even carrying out any work. This disruption is not only inconvenient but very expensive, with roadworks-related congestion costing the economy an estimated £4bn a year, which is why we are taking firm action.”

Initially it’s only a trial in a few councils but it looks highly likely that before long the scheme will be rolled out across the country.

From renting driveways to renting out your car, this could be the new trend in 2012.

Unlike driveway rentals this new idea isn’t from us, it’s from two of the most well-known entrepreneurs in the UK – the founder of EasyJet Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou along with Brent Hoberman, the founder of lastminute.

At a time when increasing numbers of people could do with some extra money this scheme could come in handy.

Renters will be able to access the cars through a smartphone app, and our guess is that there will be an extensive feedback system to ensure that cars are treated in the right manner.

As Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou says, the concept is logical, and it’ll be interesting to see if it develops into a real competitor to the established car rental companies:

“Rather than having to buy the cars and pay the ownership costs, this business model relies on the fact that there are plenty of underused cars on the road and that is lazy capital that can be put to work again.”

A recent Guardian poll has shown that nearly one in four people would consider renting out their car, which would certainly result in a sufficient supply of cars.

This idea could be one to watch in 2012.

We’ve just recently made a change to make it easier and quicker than ever before to contact owners. Many thanks to one of our users who suggested it!

You now no longer have to register when you contact an owner. Instead simply enter your name, email address, phone number (optional) and message and it’ll be sent straight to the owner. It takes less than 30 seconds compared to close to 2 minutes before.

We’ve seen a big increase in messages being sent through the site, so more people than ever before are getting a rental within our 45 day guarantee period.

As the cost of parking in city centres is rising more and more people are turning against the high street. This coupled with the fact that many city centres are losing a large number of shops to the recession means that fewer and fewer people are going into the centres to shop.

Some people will choose to go to large shopping centres that are on the outskirts of town where parking is free and there is a large range of shops and eateries to choose from.

Others are deciding to shop online as it is incredibly convenient and a great way to save money, particularly in the run-up to Christmas.

As a result there are many different campaigns that are underway to see car parking charges over the Christmas period scrapped. Clearly this will encourage consumers to head back into the city centres and start buying in shops once again.

Many people are welcoming this idea and this includes many town councillors who are committed to increasing the profitability of their city centres once again and getting people back onto the high street during the busy Christmas period.

One area where town councillors are trying to scrap parking charges in the Christmas period is run by Sedgemoor District Council who cover Highbridge and Burnham. Chris Williams is one of the people who has proposed that Sedgemoor District Council should scrap parking cost in the city centre from 17 December until Christmas Eve. Doing this would encourage shoppers back into the city centre and would give the traders in the area the boost that they need at this time of year.

As Chris Williams says:

“Given the current financial climate, our local traders need as much help as possible this Christmas. Free parking would provide a small incentive to shoppers to buy in Burnham and Highbridge and also help them reduce their petrol bills by avoiding their need to drive out of the area to shopping malls.”

An incentive like this could be just what many areas need and would be backed by the residents of towns and cities that decide to scrap these parking charges. The proposal that was made to Sedgemoor District Council was backed by everyone at the meeting and the formal request to remove parking charges during the period mentioned will be considered at a later date.

In the past this area used to provide free parking up until 2007 and many people would love to see this initiative reinstated.

Whilst not all councils are helpful on this front hopefully a number of them will take similar action against parking charges in the lead up to Christmas.

From this evening parking charges on Sundays of £4.40 per hour are going to be approved by Westminster Council. This comes despite public outrage at the fees and condemnation from the general public, businesses, and even the church who organised a march last week which 3,500 people attended.

Reverend Canon Dr Giles Fraser summed up the mood, saying:

“The Church is really angry about this. When Sunday trading came in we were promised that it would not lead to the full commercialisation of Sunday, but it seems that we were not told the truth. It’s likely many of the local authorities are doing this because of the national deficit.”

Sarah Cordey from the British Retail Consortium has also spoken up against the introduction of fees:

“It’s short-sighted to treat parking as a revenue-raiser. New fees, which take advantage of shoppers, risk driving away business from town and city centres.”

Westminster Council has defended their plans saying that they have a duty to ensure that parking is available to people visiting the area. However, it’s clear what the real motive is. Parking is big business for the council. It brings them over £50 million a year and this is an easy way to raise additional money.

It’s disappointing that Westminster Council has done this against opposition from all sides, and then claimed that it’s following a widespread consultation and is actually to ensure that there’s sufficient parking available. From our own experience we’ve spoken to the Westminster Council a number of times and they have proved to be very stubborn, aggressive, and certainly never concerned about a lack of parking spaces in the borough.

We do have private spaces currently available in Westminster. Check them out – you could save quite a bit when compared to the Council’s fees.

We’ve been featured in the news quite a bit over the past couple of weeks so we thought a quick round-up could be worthwhile.

A couple of case studies were also featured by local newspapers and radio stations – many thanks to all our members who took part.

Here’s a round-up of a few of stories featuring YourParkingSpace:

• Rent-a-driveway is new Blackpool Craze – an interview with one of our members who rents out their garage near Stanley Park in Blackpool.
• Commuters paying £400 more to park in Barnet driveways – looking at the rising cost of parking in Barnet over the past 3 years.
• Bromley drive worth £1,000 a year – Bromley driveways can now be rented out for over £1,000 per year.
• A nice little earner in Swindon – featuring an interview with one of our members renting out a driveway on Bath Road, Old Town in Swindon.
• Renting out your driveway could prove lucrative – the Huddersfield Daily Examiner looks at the driveway rental market.
• Dudley driveways could earn £828 – noting how much you could be earning if you live in Dudley.
• Hallam FM – Parking rental prices in Sheffield – featuring another case study of one of our members.

That time of year is rapidly approaching again – the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. The time of year when the sun is out, people are eating strawberries and cream, and the country asks whether Andy Murray will win Wimbledon.

And as you would expect parking for Wimbledon 2011 will be in as much demand as ever, especially with the much wider awareness of the possibility of finding private parking spaces in the Wimbledon area.

If you haven’t already signed up your space then now is the time – we expect that bookings will start to be made from around the start of June.

The Sunday Sun. a newspaper for Newcastle, Middlesbrough and the rest of the North-East, wrote an article about us over the weekend.

As one of our members in the article says, it really is a win-win situation:

“I don’t have a car and there’s no point in my space just being empty all the time. I don’t see any harm in me making a bit of money from it and someone saving some money by using it instead of multi-storey car parks every day, which cost an absolute fortune.”

We’ve also published an extensive list of customer testimonials, and if you have a space to rent then sign-up here.