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Winter parking 'ripoff' plea
A SCARBOROUGH resident has called on the council to give drivers a break from "rip-off" parking charges during the winter months.
Brian Waller, of Crossgates, was impressed with the arrangements when he visited Bridlington, where parking in the town centre and seafront was free or 50p for an hour in winter – at least 20p less than in the summer.
In Scarborough, where the council introduced a more stadardised range of charges on March 1, on-street pay and display parking is 80p an hour in most areas all year. Charges for off-street parking are also the same in winter and summer, starting at 1 for up to an hour.
The only exceptions are pay-and-display car parks in Eastborough and Quay Street and the South Bay Underground site where winter rates still apply.
Mr Waller said: "People don't use the car parks in Scarborough, they duck and dive. The charges are a blatant rip-off and I begrudge paying them.
"In winter you can go into Bridlington and do your shopping or park on the esplanade and it hardly costs you anything.
"I thought we were supposed to be encouraging visitors in the winter, not putting them off."
Scarborough Council's head of engineering and procurement services, John Riby, said he agreed the intention was to make the town a year-round resort, but this meant making parking charges consistent throughout the year.
He said: "The council's policy has always been to look at things in terms of demand management. People could park elsewhere for nothing if they were prepared to walk.
"The system is all year round because we're trying to create an all year round economy and we were advised to come up with a system that better reflected that.
"Maybe Bridlington has different characteristics from Scarborough. When we get good weekends for the weather demand can be quite high."
Mr Riby said some on-street parking remained free during the winter and charges for Marine Drive did not "kick in" until March 1.
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Weather for Scarborough
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Light snow
Temperature: 0 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light snow
Temperature: -2 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: South
