Parking charge put us off return
Editor
News editor A few weeks ago I took my mother to Asda Living in Maidstone.
After looking around the shops and having lunch we moved the car and parked it outside The Range in the same car park as my mother is disabled and put up her disabled badge.
A week later, I received a penalty notice as I overstayed my parking by 30 minutes and there was no option of extending your stay in the car park after three hours.
While I admit I should have looked better at the signs and was 30 minutes late, I think the fine of £54 is unreasonable.
It is so easy to forget the time, especially if you have trouble walking.
We contested the amount and said we were prepared to pay a reasonable amount for the overstay but got a letter back saying if we did not pay the fine within 14 days it would go up to £90. How can private car parks get away with charging so much? It has put us off going there again. Clare Gilbert Goddards Close, Cranbrook outs in Heath Road, Coxheath, were put in by the highways division of Kent County Council. So I fail to see how Tony Monk can blame Coxheath Parish Council for them. As far as I was aware, the parish council pushed for traffic-calming measures, which the village needed, and the council decided on the manner of the measures.
On the subject of the build-outs, they were put in to try to stop traffic from speeding through the village centre, which they did. The problem with them was, unfortunately, that too many people were not prepared to have their journey slowed down so refused to wait or give way.
It is these people who caused the problems and, of course, who complained. So now we’re back to the original situation where vehicles can rush through the village gaily ignoring the speed limit and the pedestrian crossings.
When you consider these drivers were, according to Mr Monk, often failing to see a car in front of them and driving into the back of it, leaving broken tail lamps on the road, you start to be concerned about what hope a child would have. But never mind that, Mr Monk and his fellow campaigners can now take a minute less to travel through the village. Steve Parnham Hanover Road, Coxheath incredibly hard to educate and encourage residents in an effort to make our village more informed, happier and a safer environment.
Personal attacks like that are unprofessional and one would have thought, unnecessary. Mary Houghton Heath Road, Coxheath