Car Parks
I am a non-driver. If you wish to know the specifics of how this situation came about, feel free to read the post I wrote about it back in early 2018. To be succinct, I don’t drive, I’ve never learned how and have never owned a car. I don’t feel that I’ve missed out. In fact I feel quite the opposite. I think I’ve dodged a major hassle and expense in life. Mrs P, my significant other, is the designated driver of our household. She owns a car, insures it and maintains it. She also mainly pays for the petrol, whereas I pick up the tab for other things such as lunch or hotels when we travel. All I have to do is make like Iggy Pop if we go anywhere. The most I am ever called upon to do is navigate using Google maps and Android Auto. Fortunately, Mrs P enjoys driving. Always has done. Hence I look upon this situation as an extremely fortunate and equitable arrangement.
However, a few years ago something came along to alter this balanced situation. Namely, the increase in use of parking apps. For a long time, we just kept a stash of coins in the car for parking meters etc. This broadly worked but from time to time, we would be in a car park and the ticket machine would be on the fritz. Often these would be because the machines were solar powered and the panels on top were covered in several inches of pigeon and seagull guano. This would always fill us with trepidation, as we’d have to take copious photos via our phones so we could appeal the penalty charge we’d inevitably be slapped with. So I installed the first and possibly the biggest parking app in the UK on my phone. Ringo. It was hardly rocket science to set up an account and a method of payment. The app usually identifies which car park you’re using and the payments are taken promptly.
Roll on several years and now it is just part of the routine that I pay for the parking. I also have two other parking apps on my phone. “C'est la vie”. Overall, these apps are quite useful. Not only do they make paying for parking easy, they also are a great way of finding out if a car park is full prior to arriving. However, we have had a few issues such as having no internet access which obviously renders the apps useless. This always happens when the traditional ticket machine is also broken. Oh fate, you capricious bastard. Overall these apps are useful but they ultimately only address the symptoms of the UK’s infrastructure problems. Car ownership is increasing, while investments in roads and parking are declining. Finding a space is therefore going to become increasingly difficult in time and although I don’t drive, that is still going to be a problem for me and everyone else.
Roger Edwards