Ok this was something I hadn't really thought about until today. I went into my local town on my bike upto the NCP carpark, got a ticket from the barrier machine and rode in. I did my shopping, came back, paid for my ticket and walked back to my bike. There was another guy there on a honda just getting his gear on to go. He jumps on his bike, nods at me then rides off away from the exit round a corner and seemed to disappear but on closer inspection it seems he went through a walkway for pedestrians as I assume he had not paid for a ticket.

So a few questions.

1) Is this a common practice? I see bikes parked up all over the place but rarely in a carpark. Do you just park where you like and not pay for parking?

2) If you park in a carpark where the machine spits out one of these paper tickets to display in the car, wtf are you supposed to display it on your bike that wont get blown away or nicked?

3) Anything I should consider when parking my bike somewhere other then bolt it to something immovable?

Cheers guys!

Can't say I have ever parked the bike in the sort of car park you describe above - I do the shopping in the Landy!

Mostly when on the bike I park somewhere where it is free parking. The open pay car parks (i.e. no barrier) will state whether there is free parking for motor bikes and often have a dedicated bay for them. If there is no dedicated bay we always try and park as many as possible in one car bay so as not to take up too many spaces.

Some car parks such as Helmsley town centre, you have to pay for bikes but they give you the ticket bit for the bike and a receipt bit you hold onto so if someone does nick your ticket and you get the other sort of ticket you can prove that it was you that paid for it.

As for locking it up - it depends on where I park! We both have decent disc locks and alarms. We also have a chain we take away with us and can lock the bikes together ie we are parking somewhere that looks a bit dodgy!

Never paid for parking on the bike. Pretty sure most car parks have free bike parking. I do remember parking in a multi-story in leicester where to get out I went around the in barrier when there was nothing coming...

I will only pay if it says so on the sign at the car park entrance, but generally I find somewhere else to park.



Miz.

All the car parks near where I work are free for bikes, and I'd estimate there are about 250 bikes using the same one as me. The barriers are shorter so bikes can nip around without having to stop.

JW

Most car parks are free for bikes, but not all. It is worth making sure first. I sometimes park at an NCP under my office, but I first asked around whether it was free. Luckily the NCP are also based in the same office as it is not written anywhere. As mentioned above, the barriers are shorter to allow bikes to nip out.

My bike instructor pointed out a few places where bikers were caught out thinking they had free parking. Some places it even seems that different parking attendants treat it differently. He had a second tax disk holder on his bike which he used for pay and display. He said never trust to word of mouth, make sure you see it in writing.

Thanks Guys,

I'm meeting up with some local bikers tomorrow night i'll ask them where they park up. I like the idea of a second tax disk holder.

My local council car park quotes "a valid ticket is required for all cars and bikes is required"
BUT to get a ticket you have to go through a barrier and the machine wont spit out a ticket unless the vehicle is heavy enough to trip the pressure plate just by the ticket machine.


so I dont pay. and if caught I will challenge the council on how am i supposed to get a ticket if the machine wont provide one.

It's usually a 'loop' system that is used to detect your car etc at the ticket machine. (Magnetic)
As most bikes have alloy rims, and not a lot of steel, that is why it doesn't register. We have the problem with some cars too. (Depending on height of vehicle from the ground usually.)

don't get me wrong... I am prepared to pay but can't see how !

Just got a ticket for parking my bike on the pavement outside the old hospital.

Actually it says on the ticket I was parked on a road with restictions but I was actually well up out the way on a 20ft wide pavement hard up against a wall next to a sand bucket. Not to mention there was a pedal bike parking in the same area (thats how wide the pavement is) and I was parked between the wall and a scafold consruction advertising the festival so if there is room for a blinking advert board I am sure the bike is not causing a problem.

All this was after asking a council parking warden what the script was and he told me as long it is not causing an obstuction it is fine, otherwise the Police would get involved and remove it.

Only this ticket was issued by one of the contract lot we have in Edinburgh who then tried to write another ticket out when I pulled up to speak to him about it, depsite me sitting on the bike at the time grrr

Objection letter sent on its merry way, lets see what happens.

Good luck mate

Do not send your letter until you have checked on www.pepipoo.com

By writing to them you give them the info they need to chase you for the money.

They'll have the info anyway. This isn't some crowd monitoring private parking - it's the contract for the council parking. The police traffic wardens are pretty-much gone in Edinburgh these days, and it's all gone to the blue meanies. Some of them are alright, but a lot of them are right feckers. I had to send documentary evidence that it was unsafe to move my bike to get a ticket for being on the pavement cancelled before (despite the fact that it was out of everyone's way).

Alan - did you take pictures of where you were parked? Because they did. If you have photos framed to make it look like sensible parking you might stand a better chance, whereas they'll likely take pictures that make it look like you're parking like a dick.

And yes, parking up at the old ERI is a mess. There are bike spaces around there, but not many.

Yep I have a couple of pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/akscooby/4887276169/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/akscooby/4887875926/

ffs - Flickr no longer allows you to show the pics here :(

Yeah - not exactly in the way is it? It may have been better if youd parked inside the courtyard in the building instead, os even better the bike space that's just around the corner on Chalmers Street (near the top, on the right as you head down the hill).

Of course it pisses me off that they can stick all that crap for the festival all over the pavements, or those fecking chairs and tables all along George Street, and around Ryan's Bar etc etc, but you'll get a ticket when you're taking up no more space than the grit bin...

If I cant see a MC bay in a carpark (scotland is really good about that) Wales terrible.. If I dont see a sign free for MC than I pay and use a whole bloody bay to myself...


I have a teddybear on my scoot velcrod on... he holds my ticket, its got to be a sad person to steal car parking tickets.

I always photograph it with my phonecamera before I leave the bike

it may help.

There are places where there simply is no facility for bikers.. I just leave it in the yellow lines right next to a parking pay meter.. Rhondda Cynon Taff should update their systems.. LOL thats when I get fed up looking for a place.

most times I pay Cardiff is great loads of free MC bays.

Well official line is that the roadway includes pavements (under 1984 act i.e. any part of the highway that the public has right of way) and as such road restrictions are equally applicable to the pavement area and hence my bike parked on the pavement is breaching the road restictions.

Couldnt defend why the advertising is ok to put there blocking most of the pavement yet the bike parking is an offence.

As I understand it Westminster council is still the only council to have introduced charges for solo motorcycles so if anyone is charging for motorcycles anywhere else they will be private parking bays like NCP etc.

When it comes to councils many of them are no longer providing enough spaces for solo motorcycles and it can be a pain. If you park the bike in a council car parking space you should get a ticket even if you have paid for the space. In the last twenty years or so the traffic wardens know less and less about what can park where and with fewer spaces you find bikes chancing it anywhere they can get away with it.

Even the councils themselves have little idea it took me dozens of phone calls and arguments to finally get a ticket put on one of those Indian three wheel van things with handle bars. Because it said motorcycle on the tax disc both the owner, the wardens and the even the council thought it could park in a solo motorcycle bay taking the space of three or four bikes. I had to point out several times that the space was by there rules for solo motorcycles only and these have bicycle written on the tax disc. I would not have bothered but him being there meant four of us could not park at work and unlike him we did not have the option of parking in a car space.

The other thing I have noticed around the Toon is with the increase of bicycle spaces a lot of people are parking their motorcycles there and I have yet to see a traffic warden who put a ticket on one.

When I started riding over thirty years ago the rules for parking were very clear, there where lots of spaces for us and you never paid. Now I'm sure the same rules are still applicable but no one actually knows them and we have lost a lot of spaces for solo motorcycles.

When Gertie was still on 2 wheels I used to park in bicyle spaces - I was never done for it but if I had been, my argument would have been that it said 'bicycle' on the tax disc.