Parking charge probe

Published 29 Apr 2010 10:57 3 Comments

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DISPUTED: The Main Street car park

By Jennifer Cauley

DRIVERS have been left fuming after discovering they may have been paying illegal car parking charges for more than five months.

The popular facility, just behind the Flying Horse pub on Main Street, Barrhead, had been used regularly by shoppers and business owners - until a Pay & Display system was introduced in November last year.

However, the company which owns the car park - Barrhead Shopping Centre LLP - is now under investigation by the Renfrewshire Valuation Joint Board, which sets business rates across the area.

The probe was launched after users driver claimed that they could find no record of Barrhead LLP applying for business rates for the car park - a charge that every commercial company must pay to the Joint Board based on the value of its business.

Proprietors of the vital car park have now been charging the 80p-per-hour rate for five months, with some drivers shelling out as much as £8-per-day to park near their place of work.

Now, with the effects of the recession still being felt, residents are keen to know if they were within their rights to do so.

Previous fears for the livelihood of Main Street's shops have come flooding back, as it emerged that the hours of the car parking attendant have been cut, and that businesses are suffering badly from the downturn in custom.

One angry business owner, who did not wish to be named, said: "All of us have been chatting about the effects of this car park charge for months, and everyone hates it.

"It is affecting business, and are stopping people from coming to the street because there isn't anywhere else that they can really park if they want to use the services here.

"I mean it only costs fifty pence to park in some places in town.

"Who's going to pay more than that to park here?

"If this company has been wrongly charging, and they get an invoice for business rates, maybe it will have to stop charging the money.

"That's what we're hoping for anyway."

Investigations are now underway to check if the firm, which also owns the Main Street shopping complex, are paying the correct rates for the business' which are run from the site.

A spokesperson from Renfrewshire Valuation Joint Board said: "The assesor for Renfrewshire Valuation Joint Board is in the process of carrying out an investigation into whether the car park should be shown within the Valuation Roll."

Site agents BTW Shields, which represents Barrhead Shopping Centre LLP, was unavailable for comment when approached by the News.

This article appeared in Barrhead News 28 Apr 10

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F Campbell
Unregistered User
May 7, 17:39
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I've always thought that charging a minimum 80p/hr to park behind the shops was commercial suicide.

I've lived in Barrhead almost all of my life and used to regularly stop here for chemists, newsagents and bakery. There aren't enough shops on the Main Street to make it worth my while to pay for a full hour of parking, so now I'm choosing to shop elsewhere.

We all know that the introduction of the charges were a cynical attempt to make money, especially from the council office workers who used to park all day for free and yet do not actually shop in the town. It's local residents and businesses who are paying the price though, as all the council workers now clog up all the surrounding streets in the search for free parking, while the pay car park remains largely empty.

No-one but the council themselves would have been awarded planning permission for such a large office building without providing adequate parking for staff.

How about free 15 minute parking, (for those who do actually want to support local traders), with more hefty charges for longer stays?

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Local Ned
Unregistered User
May 28, 20:33
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Haw haw, get it up yoous!

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Just Anuva Ned
Unregistered User
May 28, 20:43
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So what time is the probe in the car park? And what day im there!!!!

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