http://news.sky.com/story/981462/britons-spending-8bn-a-year-on-parking



No amount of tinkering and brainstorming by Mary whatshername is going to solve this!!

The answer is staring them in the face, council have become too damn greedy.... Why should I pay to park my car in a town centre car park when I can research items on the internet probably get a better price anyway and have it delivered the next day?

Even my clothes shopping I do once a year now on the M&S web site usually over Xmas when they have their sales on......

Council Greed = lost retail jobs.... Join up the dots.

They should change the name from "parking meter" to "council worker's pension machine". Then it won't confuse people as to why the price is going up so much

I think the simple answer is there just aren't enough parking spaces Geezer. I will say that Hillingdon Council have at least made some attempt by issuing the Hillingdon First card to local residents, allowing cheaper parking options for those of us who live in the borough, but the parking facilities are few and far between.

I have long since given up trying to patronise my local shops in Northwood, Northwood Hills and Eastcote because it usually involves driving round in endless circles trying to find a vacant parking space. Like you, I just shop online for most things now.

Woking are having a go ...........

http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/s/21200 ... ing_revamp

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Lets be careful out there !

All over the country councils have driven people away from town centres with anti car policies. High charges, removing spaces, adding bollards, lines, fines, bus stop build-outs and all the rest of it.

At the same time, long-suffering shopkeepers are hit with eye watering business rates and constant interference from busy bodies trying to get them to comply with endless regulations and fill in pointless forms; those shopkeepers are often also struggling with high rents, unfair competition from massive supermarkets and anti-social behaviour on their own parades.

I wouldn't fancy trying to run a shop, must be a nightmare.

Do you pay VAT on goods purchased online?

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When a crash seems inevitable, try to hit the softest, cheapest object in the vicinity as slowly and gently as possible.

Yep, and you have to be careful buying from abroad because can get hit with an unexpected tax bill later.

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Lets be careful out there !

At the moment we pay GST (our version of VAT) on overseas purchases above $1000.00 but there are moves afoot to bring it down to $30.00 because our retailers are missing out on their chance to rip us off.

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When a crash seems inevitable, try to hit the softest, cheapest object in the vicinity as slowly and gently as possible.

I would have thought the prime reasons for the death of the High Street are business rates and rents. All we'll end up will be coffee shops, betting shops and charity shops - and to think our High Streets were once diverse interesting busy hubs of retail activity!

soon we will have more ghost towns than Hollywood.

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Its not always the biggest and the bestest, its them that make the least mistakes.

why do we have to pay for parking anyway ?
if they want us to shop , why put barriers in the way
if you look around there is usually plenty of space in the roads , and side roads , but now there are yellow lines
it is just greed , as parking could be put in , but limited to say 2 , or three hours , free