A UK local authority council has been criticised for what one resident has said is knowingly creating undersized parking bays.
The parking area -- smaller than recommended -- makes it harder for motorists to make sure all their vehicle is within the legally allotted area.
The council has been fining motorists for not having their cars completely parked within the parking bay, and that’s not fair, said the resident of Newbury town, just outside London.
He reportedly went around measuring the parking bay, <%$Linker:2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal according to newspaper reports The telegraph: Drivers fined for being outside too-small car parking bays in Newbury false http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/11417281/Drivers-fined-for-being-outside-too-small-car-parking-bays-in-Newbury.html false false %>.
Government recommendation is that parking bays should be a minimum of 2.4m by 4.8m, but the resident claims he has measured bays that are up to a metre shorter.
The resident said some of the bays are too small for even a Mini model of car.
West Berkshire Council admitted that last year that it had fined 142 motorists around US$77 each for "not parking wholly within the bay".
The council said it will not display warning signs about the smaller bays, but continue to rely on the "discretion and common sense" of its traffic wardens about whether to issue parking fines.
The council said its employees did not deliberately build smaller bays in order to catch people out. "Probably not enough attention was paid to building them to the standard size. However, it does mean that we can provide more car parking for more people coming to the town,” he said.
The parking area -- smaller than recommended -- makes it harder for motorists to make sure all their vehicle is within the legally allotted area.
The council has been fining motorists for not having their cars completely parked within the parking bay, and that’s not fair, said the resident of Newbury town, just outside London.
He reportedly went around measuring the parking bay, <%$Linker:
Government recommendation is that parking bays should be a minimum of 2.4m by 4.8m, but the resident claims he has measured bays that are up to a metre shorter.
The resident said some of the bays are too small for even a Mini model of car.
West Berkshire Council admitted that last year that it had fined 142 motorists around US$77 each for "not parking wholly within the bay".
The council said it will not display warning signs about the smaller bays, but continue to rely on the "discretion and common sense" of its traffic wardens about whether to issue parking fines.
The council said its employees did not deliberately build smaller bays in order to catch people out. "Probably not enough attention was paid to building them to the standard size. However, it does mean that we can provide more car parking for more people coming to the town,” he said.
