Entitlement Parking

[reliefeo]

just for background - I attend a church service each Sunday morning, I normally arrive early to help with any set up required, assist some disabled parishioners etc. parking is extremely limited in the church grounds and around it.

recently a hotel beside the church has taken to “reserving” spots directly outside the hotel for its VIP patrons. This information was passed to me this morning by the duty manager of the hotel when I challenged him about it after watching an very elderly couple arrived anxious and late to service this morning after having to park some distance away due to no parking available near the church. Once I said I’d ask the police/local authority they quickly removed the reservation tape/ cones.

this is a public road and public parking - the hotel does have private parking but apparently not enough. My husband has said I was unreasonable to tackle a weekend duty manager. That I should have waited until tomorrow but having watched this happen repeatedly over several months and I’m fact become more brazen I just tackled it. Was I being unreasonable??

YANBU. Nobody owns the public road outside their business.

I'd have just removed cones etc

I’d have a chat with the hotel and reach an agreement about them not reserving any spaces at the time of services. If they do, I would remove the cones and report them to the council.

I'd take a picture of the cones to report them and then move the cones.

Why not tackle the weekend duty manager? They are the one there on a Sunday running things and you mentioning getting the police involved got the result you desired? Why is your H even bothering being contrary on this?

Obviously the hotel know what they are doing is wrong and that is why they backed down.

A hotel near DMs house does this. When DGM was ill I cba to speak to them so parked in their managers space located at the front of the hotel. 😂

They can’t reserve space on the public road, how rude! I’d keep telling them this. Obviously they know they’re in the wrong as they swiftly removed the cones with the threat of police. Why wouldn’t you speak to the weekend manager when the service is on a Sunday?!

I agree with Eleganz, that is why there is a duty manager, to manage stuff like this at the weekends when the regular manager is off. I would check with the council about this anyway in case the hotel have plans to officially take the spaces in front of the hotel as part of their parking.

If they feel that strongly about their VIP guests' convenience they can hire a valet and park the cars somewhere else.

I would just exploit the fact that they've 'saved' those spaces by directing your elderly/late parishioners to park in them. Nothing they can do about it, they don't own the road.

I'd report this to the local council

I think what bothered me was the attitude that they had permission and it was just a recent things- it isn’t- it’s regular both during the week and weekends. He lied straight to my face about that.

my dh said I was too forceful - I didn’t swear or raise my voice I just asked if they were responsible for the reserving of spaces when I heard yes I was very direct in my opinion and why.

Tell your DH to sod off

Some people just don’t like women who are ‘forceful’. In other words, women who get shit done when other people can’t or can’t be bothered.

Good for you, OP.

(My DH occasionally falls into this category due to procrastination. He hates it when I do something that he should have done).

I did tell my DH to piss off! - he wasn’t the one trying to reassure that elderly couple that they weren’t at all rude for attending late as it wasn’t their fault.

the hotel quoted security issues regarding some foreign dignitaries who had arrived but who I know had flown out again mid week as our local news reported it. They are clearly La king in appropriate arming space but rather than turn the business away they decided to annex street parking.

the irony is that my friend has a small cafe nearby and has lost customers due to the same thing with the same hotel - she complained directly to hotel -I will push it further though

Reasonable to question the duty manager. Should be followed up though.

Perhaps worth finding out who the foreign dignitaries were- is the hotel giving preference to people representing a government that ill-treats its citizens or worse. Say from a country where who you love could land you in jail?

Well done you were correct.

Hotel has a cheek and it's nothing to do with your husband if you want to help an elderly couple while he hides behind your skirt🙄

If they have a bar they are stupid to aggravate the congregation of a neighbouring church. If your church has midweek choir or bellringing practice the choristers or ringers often like to go for a drink afterwards. A foreign dignatory is a customer for one or two days, choristers and bellringers are midweek customers for ever. They are usually sedate too, although my 82 year old mother and the rest of the ringers got banned from one pub. 'They even banned the churchwardens' she told me. They were singing carols apparently.

Thanks for all your responses - I was starting to doubt whether I had handed it appropriately. I was careful to tell the quite young duty manager that I wasn’t directing anything at him on a personal level however he was a representative of the hotel and therefore he who I was dealing with. I told him I’d move the cones myself but he arrived out and did it. He then approached me on the street a few minutes later to tell me who the foreign dignitaries were - which I found very odd!

he kept insisting that the reserving of spots was a recent thing but I pointed out that it definitely was t - I have a sent role in that church and attend there a few times weekly - there has been a steady increase reserving of spots by that hotel.

strangely about an hour after the conversation I saw one of their guests parked in the middle of the road blocking traffic whilst his wife wrestled their bags into the car!

Sorry for typos I can’t find my glasses!! 🤦‍♀️

Also when I asked the duty manager why they were still there if foreign dignitaries had left he said he didn’t know as he just worked weekends however he had caught himself out there as he had already informed me that the cones were the property of the hotel.

that led me to believe that it was nothing really to do with dignitaries as they would have removed them one they’d gone - but a regular thing ie in use for guests constantly so no need to remove them. Shitty of the owners to do that though. Greedy

Hi for anyone interested I made contact with the local authority today. The person I spoke to was very helpful. Strangely there didn’t seem to be any surprise when I mentioned the name of the hotel- I wonder if someone has complained before.

By pure luck I was the church tonight when some of the guests from the hotel wandered in to listen in to our choir practice- dh got chatting to them and low and behold they divulged that the hotel had told them that they would cordon off some parking for them out front. Apparently they were considering moving hotels as they wanted to hire a car and go exploring and the hotel car park at the back was always full.

dh must have discovered his spine and told them he wouldn’t recommend that as the hotel legally couldn’t do that as they didn’t own the road. I cannot get over the cheek! I’m going to get back into the local authority again tomorrow.