to be fucking raging at westminster council

[nightowlmostly]

I cannot believe that Westminster have passed the new parking restrictions tonight! I work in the west end, night shifts mostly. I start at 8pm and finish at 4am. At the moment it is free to oark and this enables me and my DH (who also works in the area) to live out of town and commute by car when working. There is no night buses that go as far as I live, 30 miles out of town. We have built our whole lives around being able to drive to work, and bought a house based on this fact.

From now on there will be parking restrictions until midnight, so there will be no spaces available as there are so many people who will be trying to find a space and those pay and display bays are few and far between. So I will be forced to park far from my place of work and get a night bus, which is dangerous for a lone female, or walk, which is also not safe.

This is purely a decision based on revenue raising and it makes me really angry that they are not considering the needs of workers in the city. There are hundreds if not thousands of places of business that rely on people coming and working nights, who for many years have been able to park on single yellows and who will be penalised by this decision. There are hotels, restaraunts, casinos and bars, all employing many people.

Sorry for ranting, I really needed to get it all out!

park, not oark

Can you get a g-whiz electric car? I hear the parking fees etc are relaxed for those in Westminster... just a thought. Sorry, it sounds like a tough situation!

are there really that many single yellows around? wont they just make them into parking bays?

Did you vote Tory libs or labour

They won't make them into bays because that will negate the whole point of the exercise, to make driving throught the city easier. The official point, anyway! The thing is, there won't be any traffic problems any more because most people driving through are doing so with the intention of parking!

I know there is nothing to do about it, but it's upsetting me. It's going to make my life so much harder.

i can see why you are a bit pissed off... but it was a bit silly to build your entire lives around the fact that you assumed you would always be able to drive to work.
you're in the same situation now as many, many, many other people are in every single day....

thisisyesterday not really though, as I finish at 4am! Why wouldn't I expect the parking regulations to stay as they have been for decades ?

Obviously we will get round it somehow, it will just make life harder and finishing work at 4am and having to be back again by 1pm every second counts!

Walking miles to my car isn't something I really want to be doing at 4am on a saturday night in the middle of winter, thanks.

YANBU to pissed off. it does not affect me and probably never will, but its yet another thing that normal people just have to put up with because of "funding", yet they are doing fuck all to sort out the real sink holes of our economy. charging people to park will not magically fix the deficit just piss off a lot of people and probably cost as much if not more to enforce than the added revenue, but they are seen to be doing something.

could your boss ask the council for parking permits for it's staff.

mirai you are right but we do that short turnaround in exchange for starting the week on a night shift and ending it on a day shift so the weekend feels loger. It sucks but if we complain they'll just say ok, well do a day shift on your first day and end the week on a night, finishing at 4am, so nobody wants to make a fuss. It is hard though!

Honestly, I also want to know if you voted Tory, lib or labour

Lib, but only in the general, and it'd not really relevant is it?

LDN - why do you need to know which way OP voted? The council are doing this for one reason and one reason only - they don't have sufficient money to pay for the services that they built up when we were not in a recession. We are now in a recession - the governor of the bank of england reckons 7 years of lean to follow the 7 of plenty (bit biblical but his words not mine!) It wouldnt make a stuff of difference whom the OP voted for - we would still be in a mess. Mr Micawber could understand it, why do others struggle. This is happening all over the place. Either people lose their jobs or things that were free/cheap arent any longer. I feel really sorry for OP - i have been in this position of working late into the night in London. OP has to put pressure on her employer to help - car share scheme, employee parking, employee mini bus, whatever is appropriate in her situation. I don't care if the OP voted tory, labour, national front or monster raving loony. She is looking for some practical help and support not to be nar nar ed at if she didnt vote the way you did.

There is a special circle of hell reserved for Westminster council, and it is no parking on pain of brimstone. Let's hope they never want medical care late at night or to go to a late night bar.

No doubt if you wrote to complain you would get a "let them eat cake" reply suggesting you buy a house with a garage...

danniclare - you do realise that most of the people who work for Westminster council cant actually afford to live there don't you? sending them to hell as well? thats pretty harsh on top of that commute!

Hello ladies,

I am new to this website and after reading the evening standard today,I think you should know a lot has been done to try and stop Westminster.We had protests,meetings with Lee Rowley....and is not finished yet.We have a facebook group "we are against Westminster Council`s new parking regulations" with details of our petitions and more.We are planning a big protest very soon....where all the mums can join nightworkers,restaurant,hotel owners and workers,musicians and actors....I am sorry but I am always short of time as my 2 years old son is always with me and not happy when I sit and write on my laptop.Please pass on the message to all mums.
www.facebook.com/groups/194867543907340/

OP When parking restrictions were first imposed I expect there were people who had been used to parking where they liked "for decades" - it is simply not possible to rely on such things not changing.

YANBU and I'm for you. I know exactly how you feel as I live in Fulham. We have "parking zones" so I can't even pop to a friends for coffee in the same damn borough without having to fork out £2.40 for the privilige.

YANBU for being pissed off

YABU for saying as a lone female it's too dangerous to take a night bus. Of the many workers you cited having to work nights, I'm sure many of them have to take night buses (I used to be one of them). It's the West End, not Peckham. With a bit of research you can find the night buses that arrive most frequently (29, 159, I think the 453?) and hopefully find a street to park not too far along the route. With any luck it might not add more than 10-15 minutes to your commute.