Car park experiences are putting off return visitors say councillors
Stone community leaders are concerned that two car parks are putting visitors off returning to the town.
Several people have reported receiving penalty charge notices after driving onto the B&M and Crown Hotel car parks in Crown Street, which are run by Smart Parking.
One driver who may have made a mistake when entering his vehicle’s registration number said that he was fined £60 despite paying the fee for his stay.
And there was also a report at this week’s Stone Town Council meeting of a motorist who drove onto a site but did not park receiving a penalty charge notice – although it was also pointed out that there is a ‘grace period’ where drivers are not charged if they leave the site within a few minutes of arriving.
Town councillor Jim Davies has called for a review of parking in Stone “in light of concerns regarding the negative impact on businesses and attractiveness caused by the operation of the car parks managed by Smart Parking”.
The town council has also requested information from Stafford Borough Council, which runs car parks in Crown Street and Christchurch Way, on the income the authority has received since it took on the management of the sites.
Councillors agreed to write to Smart Parking, the landlord of the Crown Street sites where it operates, B&M and Stafford Borough Council at their meeting on Tuesday.
Councillor Davies also suggested a map of car parking areas in Stone could be produced to help drivers.
“The current situation day by day is we have an adequate number of car parking spaces in town, although not all are convenient for the High Street,” he said. “Those with mobility problems can’t always park close to the town centre.
“Unfortunately we have lost the temporary car parks in Northesk Street and Crown Wharf and that has reduced the number of long stay places for people. They are now having to pay for parking or having to park a long way out.
“The car park at Morrisons is free but is time-limited and should only be used by Morrisons customers shopping in store.
“Smart Parking is a global company and a fairly reputable provider of car parking solutions. But I’m getting increasingly concerned – and that concern is shared by councillors and people in the town – about the treatment of people by Smart Parking.
“I am concerned they are damaging the reputation of the town and deterring people from visiting the town. I have met people who said ‘I am not going to Stone again after being fined £100 for not putting in a digit correctly.'”
Speaking after the meeting a Smart Parking spokesman said: “Smart Parking manages the Crown Street car parks in Stone to stop parking abuse, and to make sure genuine customers can always find somewhere to park.
“At the car parks we operate state of the art ANPR systems that monitor cars entering and exiting. Across both car parks there are numerous signs which clearly explain the terms and conditions of use and we would remind any motorist that when parking on private land they should always read these before deciding to park.
“Smart Parking is a proud member (of the) British Parking Association (BPA), and we strictly follow the association’s guidelines. We operate a BPA-audited appeals process and would encourage any motorist who receives a penalty charge to contact us if they feel they have genuinely mitigating circumstances in their case.
“We understand some councillors have raised concerns about how the car parks are operating, though no councillors from Stone have contacted us directly or given us cases to investigate. Moving forward we are always keen to engage and would be happy to meet with interested councillors to explain how our system works.”
