Isaac Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Why should he pay £2? Why should anyone pay? It should be free. We've already paid for it with our taxes - WE OWN the government car parks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vulgarian Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Just because the government owns a service doesn't mean that it can be offered for free. If a service cannot be supported on tax contributions alone when either taxes must be raised or people charged for using it. I'm not saying this pleases me but that's how it is. The government owns two theatres on the promenade. Should you get to see all the acts for free? What about the trains, trams, and buses? A government which offers all those for free would be gargantuan and your taxes would be too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addie Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 As I've mentioned before, in my opinion, all charges for disabled people to park should be put on hold until all politicians (and their wags/habs) on this island pay for their own parking. By the way, some blue badges were/are handed out with the hope that they will be handed in if no longer required. I know a person or two that haven't done this even though capable of walking for some miles. Plus the spouses/parents etc of badge holders using them when doing their own parking. The 'need' should be better monitored and I suggest that all wheelchair users should be exempt of payment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FACT Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 It doesn't bother the Government that you don't spend £600 in Douglas, however you spend it they still get their cut of the VAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Just because the government owns a service doesn't mean that it can be offered for free. If a service cannot be supported on tax contributions alone when either taxes must be raised or people charged for using it. I'm not saying this pleases me but that's how it is. Wrong again. Government does not own the car parks, WE do. Government are custodians only and they are employed by US the TAXPAYERS. It isn't "free" - we've already paid for it. WE already OWN the car parks. The government owns two theatres on the promenade. Should you get to see all the acts for free? What about the trains, trams, and buses? A government which offers all those for free would be gargantuan and your taxes would be too. They're custodians, not owners. We own them. If we, the taxpayers, believe these services should be subsidised by us, then that is our choice. Besides, you can hardly compare a car park with an actual service. A car park is just concrete. It's not like the government are providing a valeting service. At most, they outsource a private sector cleaning company to send a minimum wage cleaner to clean it up twice a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 If you walk on the prom, why not park on the prom? There is plenty of free parking very close to the shops. There are even some places designated for disabled drivers. I can't get in and out of the car if another vehicle is parked next to it as I need the doors to be wide open and I can't walk far enough to go in to town walking (you missed the relevant bit about my wife accompanying me with the wheelchair?) Therefore all the seaward side of the prom is not available for me to park. On the other side, my wheelchair would need to be taken to/from the pavement by someone else. If I was on my own, I would have to propel myself along the road in the traffic until I got to a dropped curb. If you've not been in a wheelchair in the road, with traffic going past, you should try it, it is great fun... (oh, hang on, my mistake, what I meant to say is 'bloody frightening', always get those two mixed up). There are about six, two-hour parking spaces that are accessible. Therefore most people have the choice of about 300 free spaces. People who need an accessible space have half a dozen. FACT is correct, it doesn't bother the government in the slightest if I spend the money in a local business or not. But it damn well should. Douglas traders are having a tough enough time of it without the government, local & national, making it harder for people to spend their money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gee Cee Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Hi Keith - thanks for your reply. You are absolutely right, I had not thought through the wheelchair issue. You make the observation that you need extra room to get in and out of your car. I suspect that a great many drivers would have sympathy with that issue. Cars seem to have got wider, but parking spaces have not. Many of us struggle, especially when the person in the adjacent bay has parked badly. I suspect that the authority looking after the parking are under pressure to allocate as many space as possible. The question of designating more parking spaces for the disabled is a thorny one. We have all seen empty 'disabled' spaces when we are driving round looking for somewhere to park, and it is very frustrating. Allocating more disabled spaces would simply exacerbate that problem. We all need a bit of luck when looking for a parking space, and I'm afraid that that is just as true for wheelchair users. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vulgarian Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Just because the government owns a service doesn't mean that it can be offered for free. If a service cannot be supported on tax contributions alone when either taxes must be raised or people charged for using it. I'm not saying this pleases me but that's how it is. Wrong again. Government does not own the car parks, WE do. Government are custodians only and they are employed by US the TAXPAYERS. It isn't "free" - we've already paid for it. WE already OWN the car parks. The government owns two theatres on the promenade. Should you get to see all the acts for free? What about the trains, trams, and buses? A government which offers all those for free would be gargantuan and your taxes would be too. They're custodians, not owners. We own them. If we, the taxpayers, believe these services should be subsidised by us, then that is our choice. Besides, you can hardly compare a car park with an actual service. A car park is just concrete. It's not like the government are providing a valeting service. At most, they outsource a private sector cleaning company to send a minimum wage cleaner to clean it up twice a day. Car parks need maintenance. They need ticket machines, maybe wardens, cleaners, gardeners. They need to be purchased in the first place. You've heard of a mortgage. These are all costs, and if the government deems that taxes are not sufficient to cover these costs then they may raise revenue at point of service. Got it? That's how it works. And actually the local authority is the owner of these properties. Not the public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tattysmcgee Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 I've noticed the spaces on some carparks that are designated do not allow the space required as mentioned above. Chester Street for example, no room to open the door wide enough to allow a disabled person out and no room at all at the rear to get a wheelchair out as they have them newish railings round the back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addie Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Sp people get a tad irritating if designated disabled parking spaces are empty? Well, Hey, it must be a damned sight more than a tad irritating to have to rely on using a wheelchair, zimmer etc too. Let's get things in perspective and have some empathy. PS Has this thread attracted some new people to come on and have their say on these forums? If so, that's great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishwasa Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 We have all seen empty 'disabled' spaces when we are driving round looking for somewhere to park, and it is very frustrating. You should try it in reverse - unable to get a disabled space because some non-badge holder decides it's ok to park there 'just for a few minutes'. Now that is frustrating :-( And it does happen. A lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Car parks need maintenance. They need ticket machines, maybe wardens, cleaners, gardeners. They need to be purchased in the first place. You've heard of a mortgage. These are all costs, and if the government deems that taxes are not sufficient to cover these costs then they may raise revenue at point of service. Got it? That's how it works. And actually the local authority is the owner of these properties. Not the public. We already pay more than enough tax to cover car park maintenance. Any further tax is to pay for the salaries and pensions of an oversized bureaucracy which frankly could be cut by 75% and still function - probably more efficiently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sick Moon Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 We have all seen empty 'disabled' spaces when we are driving round looking for somewhere to park, and it is very frustrating. No it isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merkin Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Tj if you knew how much a multi storey car park costs to build you might understand how it takes many years to pay off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 If you knew how much of our tax money goes to funding needless bureaucracy, you'd understand why we shouldn't need to pay MORE for parking or any other service beyond what we already pay for with our taxes. All these stealth taxes are just to pay for the upkeep of a needless bureaucracy, not for the upkeep of car parks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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