Car Park Chaos

There are now over 30 million cars on the roads in the UK, and this figure is increasing so fast that the issue of parking spaces is becoming a big problem. On average there is now two or more car per household. This sector is now outnumbering those with no car and there are more than a million homes with at least three. Today there are 4.3 million more cars than when Labour came to power in 1997, considering they pledged to reduce people’s dependence on private motoring. John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, said after the 1997 election: “I will have failed if, in five years’ time, there are not many more people using public transport and far fewer journeys by car.” The extra cars introduced since then would fill a 40-lane motorway between London and Edinburgh. The domestic fleet of cars has doubled since 1975, and is increasing by more than 600,000 a year. Regardless of the growth, UK still falls short of car ownership levels in Italy and Germany. In 2003, there were 494 cars per 1,000 people in UK, compared with 591 per 1,000 in Italy. The RAC Foundation has concluded that the greatest motor transport challenge is not congestion but creating enough parking spaces. A lot of the problem causing congestion is due to drivers searching for parking spaces. 20% of motorist say they have problems finding parking space outside their home, and this usually results in rows with parking wardens. This foundation thinks that the way around this is to build a tunnel under residential streets and shopping areas to create underground car parks. This was the most popular idea with 73 per cent of the 500 drivers questioned by NOP, the market research firm, on behalf of the foundation. Local authorities are making money of the lack of spaces by making people pay for parking permits outside their homes. In total drivers paid almost £1 billion in parking fees and fines in England in the year to March 2003, up more than 50 per cent since 1998. According to Edmund King, who is the foundation’s director, said that the overcrowded parking is being overlooked by most parities in their manifestos. “The focus has been on congestion, but parking is an even worse problem. Every car journey ends with the need to park and failing to provide enough spaces is like running a train that doesn’t stop at any stations.”

Date - 30/04/2005