People’s inability to park properly can be annoying to those who manage to leave their cars perfectly placed. But in a lot, you can park like a Wally — as long as you pay more for the privilege.
A farmer in south west England has a two tier approach to paying for parking on his land, issued by people who drove to the footpath and beach at Portheras Cove, a beautiful spot in West Cornwall.
A sign has recently been put up on Ian Flindall’s farmland. Below the ‘Parking £3 per stay’ sign adds a new sign: £3 for ‘Park neatly and tightly’ and £10 for ‘Park like a Wally’. Cornwall Live Reports.
Chypraze Farm, Mr Flindall’s country, has seen its fair share of awful tourist (and local) parking lots over the years. And he already had some £10 notes from confident poor Parkers.
The parking garage doesn’t have a ticket machine or inspector, instead operating on an “honesty system” where people are asked to pay before they leave. But, said Mr Flindall, dodgy car parks can mean fewer people can board and fewer can visit the footpath and nearby beach.
Mr Flindall said: “I don’t want to overcharge people or rip them off. But if they take four places, then surely they should pay for four places.
“If people park properly we can get a few cars in, but if they don’t it’s chaos.
“As much as one would like to leave the public to their own devices, I’m afraid some will spoil it. Luckily we’re quite remote, but there are some uncontrolled parking spots nearby that we’d like to avoid.”
Surprisingly, Mr Flindall said he put a couple of £10 notes in the box. “For some weird reason, I get them stuck in pretty often,” he added. “I think they’re like, ‘Well, I just left the car, here’s a ten’.”
Parking for beachgoers in West Cornwall has been a hot topic for years. In several tourist seasons, CornwallLive has reported on the appalling state of uncontrolled parking near Porthcurno which you can read about here.
Mr Flindall said he wanted to avoid scenes like that in Porthcurno, which is overwhelmed by parked cars and traffic jams every summer, and that he felt the sign erected last year had made a real difference.
The sign also has a practical illustration of how cars can be parked neatly and tidily or be colourful.