Support Our Shops – Stop The Fines!

Liberal Democrat councillors in Dringhouses & Woodthorpe ward are calling on the owner of a private car park to suspend new management arrangements after scores of shoppers have been hit with £60 fines.

Moorcroft Road in Woodthorpe is home to a Post Office based in the Morrisons local store and a number of local businesses such as Richardsons butchers, Woodthorpe Spice Indian restaurant, Phill Ya Boots café, Top Cuts barbers and Harvey Richard hairdressers. Under the new car parking rules, shoppers can park for free for an hour and those staying longer – for example at the café, restaurant or hairdressers – can park for free for up to three hours. But anyone who visits the shops but then crosses the road to go to the nearby GP practice or dental surgery, will get a £60 fine. CCTV cameras are being used to track movements around the shops area, which has in itself given rise to concerns. 

Any blue badge holders who park on the double yellow lines at the entrance to the car park are also being fined. One blue badge holder who parked there for six minutes whilst going to the butchers to order a turkey for Christmas was hit with a £60 fine. Other residents have been fined after dropping someone off at the shops and turning round in the car park. 

Anyone who wants to use the car park whilst they visit the GP or dentist is able to park behind the shops but they must pay a fee of £1 for one hour using a QR code, or risk getting fined. 

When the new rules were introduced in October the landowner stated that this was in response to the car park being abused by people who were not using the shops but who were, for example, parking up and getting the bus into town. 

Councillor Stephen Fenton has contacted the landowner to ask them to suspend the issuing of fines so that there can be a review of the arrangements and changes made so that shopper are not unfairly penalised.

He said “Residents are understandably upset about being fined for supporting local businesses or just driving in and out of the car park having dropped someone off. Many residents who have been fined have posted on social media that they are less likely to use these local shops if this carries on and I am therefore concerned that local businesses will suffer, which is the last thing we need.

“I have set up a petition calling on the landowner to re-think their approach. Hopefully the petition will help demonstrate the strength of feeling locally on this issue.”