£2 a minute to park is not fine – and it shouldn’t be allowed

Igot a dreaded parking fine through last week. It turns out I outstayed my permitted welcome at a supermarket car park by a whopping 31 minutes, for which I have now paid for the privilege to the tune of £70.

That’s more than £2 a minute. That is clearly not proportionate nor fair.

The company handing out the fine sent a letter out kindly informing me that if I paid within 14 days of the issue of the fine it would be reduced to £40.

This would have been March 7 – the only trouble is the letter did not arrive until March 9 – and with delicious irony it came on the same day a reminder letter also arrived informing me the charge was now £70.

I paid the £70.

I could have argued the toss with them (although of course there is no telephone number you can ring to just sort it out quickly) but frankly I didn’t want the stress and hassle.

Many shops and takeaways have similar parking rules – and they often parrot “nothing to do with us, it’s the car park company’’ - but frankly it is disgusting that these businesses are complicit in turning their customers into victims.

Parliament and the courts say it is perfectly proportionate and fair for landowners to act this way –but I, and probably you, don’t agree.

Of course, shops and other businesses should be allowed to protect themselves against people who abuse the rules, but – let me spell it out – that would be people parking who are NOT spending money with those businesses.

The upshot is I will never shop at that store again.

That will cost them more than £200 a week.

Perhaps someone should tell them, as our American cousins would say, to do the math.

SNOW JOKE

The snow, as to be expected in a household with two small humans, was greeted with extreme enthusiasm. So much so that Schoolgirl T begged that we keep her and her brother off school. I laughed it off pointing out it was barely a covering.

She shot back saying I was depriving her and her brother of the chance to play in the snow as climate warming meant they would probably never see snow again!

Joking aside, I have a feeling future generations are not going to look back kindly at us – and when I say us, I mean the inept politicians who are failing to tackle the crisis facing us all.

They’ll bring the clampers back next.