Shame of Leeds over penal parking rules – Yorkshire Post Letters

WHAT a sad tale of the economic student’s parking fine escalating to £423 after his visit to Leeds (The Yorkshire Post, January 15). It sadly brought back bad memories for me.

A few years ago I was involved in location television filming in a Leeds bar. Naïvely, the TV company had not checked the parking facilities so all the film gear had to be unloaded from two vehicles which were then moved to a car park.

After filming, I returned and was loading equipment when a parking attendant fortuitously arrived informing me in ‘‘jobsworth’’ speak that I couldn’t do it and handed me a ticket.

I tried to reason that I would only be five minutes but to no avail– and with that another two parking attendants arrived.

I phoned my colleague to prevent him from my fate but being younger – and not as diplomatic as myself – he had a Yorkshire snappy verbal exchange which resulted with a legal letter warning from Leeds City Council parking department.

My opinion is that the council’s parking department is a shameful, nasty, officious, anti-social money-grabbing set-up that brings the council into disrepute. How did three parking attendants provocatively turn up in unison? Probably abusing closed circuit television cameras purportedly used for criminal activity?

The incident left a sour taste and affected me mentally for several months – I had palpitations driving into Leeds.

I have admired the Labour-run council and witnessed great changes to the city since I attended college in the 1960s and, to this day, marvel at the Dallas-type landscape from the Ikea end of the M621. But why is the motorist so unjustly treated? Maybe we love television programmes like All Creatures Great and Small and Heartbeat because they represent an era where people were treated with fairness and decency instead of legalised theft.

Why are we charged for exceeding our anticipated stay instead of the actual time spent and why are we ripped off for hourly parking?

When we buy a pound of apples, we don’t pay for two pounds if they are another ounce? £4 an hour parking can be £8 for one hour one minute – but you can’t give the ticket away so that someone can use the 59 minutes. Maybe from the pandemic the department has been disbanded and perhaps the council might look on motorists as an asset for the Leeds economy – instead of an enemy?

From: Martin J Phillips, Tinshill Lane, Leeds.

IN the past week, we have seen the results of Leeds City Council’s wasteful use of their budget on ‘‘mickey-mouse’’ projects; roundabouts, 20mph signposting, pointless cycle-lanes, and speed bumps – there was a complete absence of snow-ploughs and gritters.

It was perhaps fortunate that most people were already stuck at home due to Covid restrictions as trying to get about by road using either private or public transport was all but impossible.

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