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Mike Waters' blog: 24 March -Margin for error
Date: 24 March 2015
You've been into town to collect something that you ordered, the queue was long, the store took ages to find the item and you need to get back to the car because you only paid for an hour of parking. A common scenario and one where 10 minutes grace can make all the difference.
That's exactly what you can expect to get in council-owned car parking spaces going forward. The Government is about to bring in a 10 minute grace period for all on-street and off-street council parking spots across England. Designed to generate greater footfall into town centres, some cynics would argue that this is an election stunt, but frankly who cares.
There's nothing worse than getting what you consider to be an unreasonable fine because you've only outstayed your ticket by a couple of minutes. We all hope that common sense will prevail and this change helps to make that the case in more instances.
Where drivers will need to be careful however, is when parking in privately owned parking spots, which unfortunately are some of the most overzealous. The 10 minutes buffer doesn't apply to these sites so drivers shouldn't be lured into a false sense of security because all spaces are not the same.
Fines are avoidable but sometimes it's difficult, especially in locations where there is absolutely no margin for error. This loosening of the rules certainly helps, so the key to avoiding a fine will be an awareness of where you're parking and exactly how much time you have.
