Parking anger Visitors to beauty spot hit out at the way car charges are run
VISITORS to a beauty spot have attacked the way the car park is run after they were slapped with hundreds of pounds worth of fines.
Crickley Hill Country Park has garnered more than 100 one-star reviews on Tripadvisor and around 34 of them were received in the last couple of months and all because of the way the parking scheme operates.
The beauty spot is jointly managed by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and the National Trust and as well as being home to a range of wildlife.
And many visitors head to the spot to bask in the glorious views. However a number of them have found themselves facing hundreds of pounds worth of fines following their visit.
The wildlife trust’s visitor operations manager, Poppy Hobbs, explained that the car park operates on an Automatic Number Plate Recognition which means that visitors need to input their vehicle registration in order to pay for their parking and they can do this in a number of ways including by phone, at
Any payments for parking that are made on the day ‘go directly towards the costs of maintenance and conservation at Crickley Hill’ and that the beauty spot ‘do not directly benefit from PCN payments at all.’
However reviews on Tripadvisor have said that the beauty spot has been ‘ruined’ and ‘spoiled’ by the parking process.
One person who visited the site in March posted on Tripadvisor in June claiming that they paid the £1 fee for parking but was slapped with a £155 fine three months later after overstaying by two minutes.
Another visitor said that they also received a fine worth £100 after paying the £2 parking charge despite not overstaying.
Poppy said: “We have seen a marked increase in visitor numbers since lockdown rules eased. It has been wonderful to see so many people enjoying their local area and reconnecting with the natural world.
“Unfortunately increased visitor numbers does mean increased numbers of parking fines. However, the percentage of visitors receiving a PCN after visiting Crickley Hill is several times lower than the national average. While all ‘on-the-day’ parking payments go directly towards the costs of maintenance and conservation at Crickley Hill (a cost of circa £5,000 per week), we do not directly benefit from PCN payments at all. In the last year ‘on-theday’ payments have allowed us to create a protected adder breeding area as well as maintaining the Site of Special Scientific Interest status and site of archaeological significance.
“PCNS are only issued for vehicles that either have not had a payment processed for the time spent in the car parks or have overstayed the time originally paid for.
“We have put in place plenty of payment options to cover all bases.
“Being a remote spot, we know that phone signal can be poor at Crickley Hill, and payment machines may occasionally appear out of service as they reconnect to the external servers.
“We are also aware that in the current climate, people may wish to avoid queuing and contact at the payment machines.
“Payment options include paying by card, contactless or cash at either payment machine, paying over the phone, paying via our website and paying via the Ringgo app.
“Full details of these can be found on signage in numerous places around the car parks and next to the payment machines.
“Visitors can also use any of the remote payment options to pay retrospectively after their stay, or ‘top-up’ their stay if they have overstayed their original time, so long as this is done by midnight on the date of the stay.
“We also offer one month, three month or annual parking permits via our online shop.”
We have seen a marked increase in visitor numbers since lockdown rules eased. Poppy Hobbs