Local News

The untenable carpark

Devon County Council have really gone off the peg this time as they're introducing a pay and display car-park right next to the existing free park and ride car-park.

They're converting the bottom section of the Sowton Park & Ride car park into a place where people who work in Sowton can actually park (now there's a novel idea from them). You're going to have to pay for the convenience, but the bods on the council don't actually seem to have thought it through.

The 'new' section will charge around £2 for a full days parking, although if you park in the main section and buy an adult day return ticket to town you'll only pay £1.70 and have a valid ticket for parking. Simple really. That works out at around an £80 saving over a year!

The other odd thing about the car-park is the sign you get when you enter:

Now it may just be us here at TIE, but that would seem as though anyone car sharing is being told to park in the pay and display section of the car-park. I always thought the idea of car-sharing was to cut down on emissions and as such it should be rewarded with free parking, or fast lanes on the motorways. Oh, no wait, it's so DCC can rake in more money from us.

That's right, in Devon you actually get penalised for trying to do your bit.