Parking

[Squashed_Fly]

Can anybody confirm, can motorcycles park in P&D car parks for free? Or in P&D roadside parking spots?

I'm just wondering where we would display a ticket if we did have to pay... Plus we could argue that we did but it 'blew away'

[Nelly]

A know that at least one P&D park in the Nam has a sapce for bikes which i presume is free. Ive never bought a ticket anyway! ;D

[Mitch9128]

It usually says on the machine if it's free for bikes, 99% are but best not take it for granted.

[Ducatista]

It should say on the machine.

BTW - council car parks are the ones you have to be careful. They do have powers to make you pay fines.
Private car parks on the other hand have a contract with the driver/rider and in general they can only identify the registered keeper who may not be the same person.
They sometimes send out official looking notices which are only an invitation to pay and cannot be enforced. But you need to be careful to establish whether it's council/private.

[Kevinb]

Yes check on the machine for each car park as they can be different. Also make sure you are totally within the designated bike parking lines.

[Jacde]

If you need to pay, buy ticket, and either put half of it on bike and keep other half, before you tear it take a photo of it! Or keep ticket with you and if you get a parking notice send ticket with parking notice, fine normally gets waived.
What ever option you take, if youhave to buy a ticket then do so, you are not above the law and it would stop bikers getting a bad name!

[ChrisJo]

As above. It will say on the signage of the car park if bikers have to pay.

Many car parks are now ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) based but look for the front plate of a car :) You have to enter your reg number when you buy a ticket and they tie it all together.

I work for a larger company here in Swindon that sales parking machines all over the world, good earner if you have land to use as a car park :)

[Squashed_Fly]

Mixed views... I was under the impression, that generally parking is free for motorcycles. That in mind, when we go into town, I pay to go in the multi storey. Mainly as its dry and has CCTV!

But I had to park on the road the other day, in a P&D area, but I couldn't see anything that mentioned bikes on the machine hence the question. I wasn't suggesting bikers were above the law. Hope that's not how it sounded! I always stick to the letter of the law and never creep even a mile over the speed limit. Honest officer! ;D

[ChrisJo]

Well with councils loosing funding, we have seen many of them this year introduce a charge for bikes.... The way of things to come I suspect. :'(

[nobby]

always check on the board by meter wether bikes are free and make sure you park in designated bike areas if they have them.i parked in trowbridge multi storie, bike space full (only 2 bikes in bay, parked badly)had to park in different bay FREE PARKING NOT P&D gone 5minutes returned to find a fu**ing parking ticket taped to bike. i argued the toss with council won the case after a big fight so just be careful before you park. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[silly_simon]

If you park in a car parking space you are required to pay :(

If its in a bike designated area it SHOULD be free for the majority of car parks :)

[redken1]

Charging motorcycles to park is short-sighted greed on the part of the LA's and Government and is another measure to discourage people from taking up biking. In another 10 years parts of the UK will become grid-locked with traffic. Surely the 'Powers-that-be' should be doing everything poss to encourage biking as a means to cut down on congestion on our roads. Sorry, but it makes my 'Blood boil'. Rant over (for now). >:(

[smellygerm]

At the calne bike show I was advised to by a ticket when I parked in the car park by many stall sellers because three was a a hole of a parking attendant dishing out tickets

[Snowy]

On a rideout once and we ended up in a P&D where bikes had to pay. So we put as many bikes as we could get in one bay and bought one ticket. I mean, how can you issue a fine to more than one vehicle for parking in the same place at the same time? :D

[Snowy]

That just reminded me of the WB rideout where we parked in a private company's parking area and backed the bikes up to within inches of a wall - no way could a photo be taken of the number plates. ;D

[Squashed_Fly]

They could still clamp you. I've seen it done where they will put a whacking great chain and padlock through...

[Snowy]

Would love to see the guys face that comes to take the padlock off and see's a bunch of angry bikers waiting. ;D

[Nooj]

Only three places bikes have to pay that I know of, Stratford, which has a fantastic dedicated m/c park, Westminster, which has a weekly protest ride where bikes fill up as much space as a car on the roads for being charged as a car to park, and West Bay, again with a dedicated (if way too small and stupidly positioned) m/c park.

I always park in bike bays in town car parks (which always seem to be full of shopping trolleys which have to be evicted first) when I stop somewhere and don't even think about paying, bikes have always been free.

Amenities for bikers in this country really are a joke. As long as it's out of the way, you can park up pretty much where you want in Europe, but then there're usually hundreds of bike/scooter spaces available in towns, all free.

[Morticia]

Can anybody confirm, can motorcycles park in P&D car parks for free?

Nope, I know cos I was fined.




Plus we could argue that we did but it 'blew away'


Yeah, I tried that too. It didn't work.

[JAYJAY]

I parked in a swindon council P & D park last year where there was no bike spaces. I found a small space out of the way by a wall and walked to the bank to find I was too early on their 'training' morning so returned immediately to the bike to find a jobsworth attendant sticking a ticket to my bike. I asked him on what basis he had issued the ticket - he said that Bikes could not park there, said it said so on the sign by the meter, and ran away. The sign had no mention of bikes so I photographed the sign end emailed the pic off to the council with a scan copy of the ticket - the ticket was squashed.

[Iceman]

If you use a cars' P&D spot then I believe they can issue a fine for "illegaly parked". I always use the bike spots and never had a problem!

[Mitch9128]

If it's a private car park and you get an 'invoice', just ignore it, even if you get letters as the registered keeper, just ignore them, they will eventually give up.

[wiltshire builders]

the ticket was squashed.

I think you mean quashed, but the image i've got in my head is priceless. ;D