ans Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Surprised this hasn't been picked up on here already (unless it has and I can't see it) http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/business/sefton-boss-defends-end-to-free-car-park-1-7529976 From October 1, everyone using the car park has had to pay, including cinema goers and health club members. Charges have been set at £1 for four hours, £2 for eight, £3 for 16 and £4 for all day parking. A five-day pass costs £15. So instead of doing something to address the car park being used by non customers, they're going to penalise their paying customers by adding a surcharge to an already overpriced and poor cinema experience. I'll concede that the charges aren't extortionate, but when they're already competing with ever improving home cinema setups, it's another nail in the coffin of their business model if they're going to heap on surcharges. I'd be fine with this if you could get a refund on production of proof of custom (cinema ticket, health club membership, hotel room card) but this sounds like an out and out cash grab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zammo Maguire Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Not their only cash grab. I notice an extra zero has now appeared on the roulette machines in the casino now. Perhaps they shouldn't have blown their government bailout on a nightclub that's never open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notwell Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Surprised this hasn't been picked up on here already (unless it has and I can't see it) http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/business/sefton-boss-defends-end-to-free-car-park-1-7529976 From October 1, everyone using the car park has had to pay, including cinema goers and health club members. Charges have been set at £1 for four hours, £2 for eight, £3 for 16 and £4 for all day parking. A five-day pass costs £15. So instead of doing something to address the car park being used by non customers, they're going to penalise their paying customers by adding a surcharge to an already overpriced and poor cinema experience. I'll concede that the charges aren't extortionate, but when they're already competing with ever improving home cinema setups, it's another nail in the coffin of their business model if they're going to heap on surcharges. I'd be fine with this if you could get a refund on production of proof of custom (cinema ticket, health club membership, hotel room card) but this sounds like an out and out cash grab. A more interesting discussion point is how do they enforce it? They have no legal powers so they cannot book you (like you would get in a car park like Chester Street). They cannot clamp you. So, I don't understand how they can enforce it other than putting up a barrier to entry/exit? I can see their point about the cars parked in there that have no business on the premises. And it is annoying when you cannot get a space in there when using their facilities when you know the car park is full from non customers. I have no doubt it is a problem. And actually paying for parking at a hotel is not uncommon in the UK. Most hotel car parks are actually leased out and ran by external companies that do possess enforcement powers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FACT Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 If you don 't want to pay then don't park there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notwell Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 I suppose as a customer of the cinema, gym and hotel (the first two especially) then paying to park on site is probably not the best thing for customers. It's unworkable for gym members clearly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldmanxfella Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 I suppose as a customer of the cinema, gym and hotel (the first two especially) then paying to park on site is probably not the best thing for customers. It's unworkable for gym members clearly. It's £1 for 4 hours though so that's about a fifth of the price of a government carpark. I hate the Sefron Group but I get Brett Martins logic. It's not their fault that IOMG are such greedy twats that they have overpriced parking in Douglas to the point that people are clogging up the Palace carpark to park for free and walk into town to go to work. This has apparently affected their customers who can't park to use the hotel or the pictures because of commuters cars. If it was a profit making move they'd be charging a hell of a lot more than £1 for 4 hours. The problem isn't really the Sefton Group, but the totally doomed IOMG parking strategy and pricing policy which has already destroyed trade in the centre of town and which is now starting to fuck up trade outside of the town centre too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thommo2010 Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 1 pound for 4 hours and people are whinging. Don't park there if it's such an outrage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trueblood Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Will it have the desired effect though? £2 for 8 hours is still a better deal for commuters etc than the cost of parking in Chester St for similar period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piebaps Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Agreed OMF. The Corpy took over Chester Street in June and the first thing they did was whack up the all day rate by 16%. Presumably to pay for more chewing gum machines and chains. The disc zone bollox was supposed to encourage short stay parking but has started a new phenomena - the two hour musical parking space game. Every two hours the all day parkers have to leave their buildings to swap streets. Then you have the ones who park on the outskirts of the disc zone and walk in, plus of course the people who abuse the Palace. Its mental. Peter Karran was bob on in that debate over Govt spaces when he said they were out of touch. Let's try to get the all day parkers into the pay car parks they said. Well now they have one of the parks sitting well below capacity yet nobody has drawn the link between empty spaces and the 16% price hike. David fucking Ashcroft thinks its to do with intrusive concrete pillars FFS. Now I'm a "bigger boned" gentleman myself but I've never had any problems with the Chester Street pillars. He must go to the pie shop more often than me if he's having problems with the pillars - either that or he's never tried parking in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldmanxfella Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 I agree Piebaps. Bet you get a free space though anyway ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooahhdoo Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 A more interesting discussion point is how do they enforce it? They have no legal powers so they cannot book you (like you would get in a car park like Chester Street). They cannot clamp you. You may wish to read this act which was passed by Tynwald in 2012 :- https://www.gov.im/lib/docs/transport/highways/consultations/7immobilisationregs.pdf Not sure if they adhere to the guidelines but if they do, you can be clamped and charged a release fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butterflies Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 As a Health Club member I pay enough for my membership. This means I will pay an extra £7 per week (£30 per month) which almost doubles my gym membership! Um, bye bye Palace Health Club. I can honestly say thsat I jhave never parked in that car park when not using either the cinema, gym or attending a conference at the hotel itself. Never pakred there as a non customer. The prom has plenty of free parking so why would people bother? I did used to park on the prom & walk into work every day, never once did I use their car park, there were always plenty of spaces. I started work at 10am so it wasn't that I was particaurlly early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notwell Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 If they wanted to catch out the overnight parkers or all day parkers they could easily have done that. You need to make it £5. Your short term users - if their genuine concern was non customers of the group using the car park then it's easy enough not to "penalise" those using the cinema and gym. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katman Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Couldn't they have just asked drivers to display a parking disc and anyone who stayed over say three hours got clamped, hotel residents or those attending all day events could be given a card or something to stick on their dashboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhumsaa Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 All of the options that benefit their customers cost them money to enforce. Easier to charge a quid. Plus with the cinema they have a borderline monopoly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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