New parking “scam” in Taunton
Recently Taunton Deane Borough Council introduced a new very expensive parking system. The bigger car parks in central Taunton are controlled by barriers. Electronic road side signs as you drive into the town show you which car parks have most spaces.
So far so good.
If you don’t mind the £1.2m the Council paid for the fancy new electronics.
We decided to check out how the scheme was working at Canon Street. For all the technology, the one thing that TDBC didn’t think to do, was to tell people how much it would cost to park. It is usual, if not actually mandatory for all car parks controlled by barriers to display a list of parking charges at the entrance before you go through the barrier into the car park.
That way the customer can make a judgement as to whether they wish to park or not. Not in Taunton. There is a sign displaying car park charges. It is tucked away at the very back of the car park by the footpath to St Mary Magdelene Church.
So unless you are a regular user, there is no way of knowing how much you will pay until after you have committed to parking in the car park.
It may not be illegal – though we are still looking into that, but it is most certainly immoral and way below the standards you would expect from a local authority.
With the pressure on local services £1.2 M is an obscene amount to have spent on pointless signage We have a major traffic issue in Creech St Michael and that money would have fixed it. Not happy.
That’s the same as the quedam in yeovil to be honest.