Barnet Council Parking Fiasco - Petition

Help force Barnet to change its barmy new policy of telephone only parking

Please forward to people who might be interested.

http://petitions.barnet.gov.uk/parkingcharges/

The Conservative administration in Barnet got the entire implementation wrong.

-          They took all pay and display machines throughout the Borough offline overnight – without notifying residents properly.
-          They simply covered the old machines with black plastic bags with no sign or detail on them listing details of the new way to park.
-          Tiny sign posts were erected in different places to the parking meters explaining how to use telephone parking, however these were not sufficiently signposted.
-          Last minute, they realised that having only pay by phone parking was not going to work 100%. As a result they announced a new scratch card system for parking. These scratch cards can only be bought in packs of 4 - with one hour parking in each scratch card at a cost of £8 per pack.
-          These scratch cards were only available since the start of this week, and only available to order via the Barnet Council website.

The Policy itself discriminates.

-          The system discriminates against people without a mobile phone.
-          The system discriminates against people who are not technologically savy and find entering data into a mobile phone difficult.
-          The system discriminates against people who have been in financial difficulty and are therefore not able to own a debit or credit card to use the parking system. Sadly this affects more and more people in this current economic environment.

The Policy could result in an increase in Petty Crime.

-          To park you need to enter your credit or debit card details via the buttons on your mobile telephone.
-          You would normally enter these in the street, as you need to enter a location number for the parking to work, and this location number is located on a 7ft tall sign somewhere outside of the car, often hard to find.
-          It would be very easy for someone to commit a petty crime with debit cards out in the street.

The costs.

-          Barnet have recently raised the prices to £1 per 30 minutes to park throughout the Borough. With no short term free parking anywhere in the Borough.
-          Barnet then have the chutzpah to then add 10 Pence to the cost of your parking to pay the company administering the system. This administration fee is not even absorbed into the cost of the parking!

Your High Street.

-          Many shopkeepers in Mill Hill Broadway, Edgware’s Station Road and other areas have reported a drop in earnings of between 30%-50% since the new system has come into place.
-          Shoppers are choosing to do their shopping at Brent X or at a Supermarket superstore with free parking.
-          These same shopkeepers have said that unless business picks up before Christmas, they will be faced with a serious financial problem, as like most retail stores, they rely on the Christmas trade.

The Barnet Labour group have asked Barnet Council to suspend its parking regulations for three weeks and have an amnesty on parking to ensure the financial security of our High Street’s and to give the Council some time for reflection on better ways of implementation and a chance to cancel the entire policy.

For more details see:

http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/9418913.Call_for_urgent_council_meeting_to_discuss_parking_amnesty/

and

http://www.labour4barnet.org.uk/

Help us and let us take heart from the ruling today from the High Court that stopped Westminster from changing parking regulations. Please sign this petition.

http://petitions.barnet.gov.uk/parkingcharges/