Charity car parks Options

[glasgow_bhoy]

I had the pleasure of stopping off in West Bromwich town centre this week. Unfortunately I didn't have my body armour on, so I didn't want to hang about any longer than necessary.

As my sat-nav (phone) died, I just parked in the first car park I came to nearish the pedestrian area. It was signed as a 'charity car park'.

Very reasonable price- something like 50p for the hour I think (I didn't think the English had anywhere that cheap!), and at first I thought I liked the idea of charitable parking.

I've since tried to find out more online and discovered that only a small percentage of the money goes towards charity. Infact its 2.5% according to the article linked below.

Is this the start of PPC's trying to brand themselves as 'friendly', and is it just me who feels the 'charity' name is a bit of a long shot when such a small proportion of the parking money actually makes it to charity?

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/local-h...rity-car-park-/

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[The Rookie]

2.5% is fairly common for a lot of setups masquerading as raising money for charity but mysteriously after their costs end up giving almost nothing.....costs of course include their own salary.

That said parking at that price is a charity in itself!

This post has been edited by The Rookie: Sun, 22 Apr 2018 - 07:26

[Redivi]

Giving 2.5% of the gross revenue without deductions isn't unreasonable for a business

If the Advertising Standards Authority hasn't set minimum requirements to advertise as "Charity", however, it ought to

This post has been edited by Redivi: Sun, 22 Apr 2018 - 07:53

[nigelbb]

The British Legion used to manage car parks employing war veterans. Some time ago they sold off that segment as Legion Parking who still try & give the impression that there is some charitable function to their business using the red poppy symbol etc.

[Half_way]

Ive been involved with Charity parking, slightly different to the situation the OP has mentioned, as its been at events such as steam rallies, country shows/fayres etc etc
Typically raising funds for Round Table/Rotary/Scouts/cancer research etc etc, we either charge for people to park at the gate (parking £2.50 or donation), or get a donation from the event organisers.
it typically involves being shown a grass field and then having to work out where the cars should be parked having an entry/exit point, directing vehicles to a suitable parking area and assisting those with a disability
another slight difference is that its all volunteer run, with almost 100% going towards the charity ( only expenses are things such as barrier tape if not provided)

[bill w]

We have BankPark in our area, who do seem to behave reasonably. Even a proportion of the ticket/invoice goes to charity as another incentive to pay up promptly.

For a company which claims to provide an ethical approach to parking, unfortunately they seem to have aligned themselves with the IPC, rather than BPA, for appeals etc.
I may be mistaken on that as I've never received a ticket, but they don't feature on the BPA's list, but do appear on the IPC's one.
I suppose it's even possible that their internal appeal system is a genuine one; I just hope I don't need to find out for myself.

I think it's run by an ex Excel employee, and does seem to give a genuine charitable contribution, whist still charging very reasonable rates for parking. It's just a shame that they don't work on a post payment/barrier system, and that they have chosen to affiliate themselves primarily with the IPC.

That said, the only windscreen tickets I've ever seen, have been for pretty blatant abuses of overstaying, or no obvious payment tickets displayed, not for wheels touching white lines etc.

This post has been edited by bill w: Sun, 22 Apr 2018 - 10:46

[peodude]

West Brom is also BankPark. When you see West Bromwich town centre you'll realise why it is so cheap. The old High Street is a dump.

[jdh]

Very reasonable price- something like 50p for the hour I think (I didn't think the English had anywhere that cheap!), and at first I thought I liked the idea of charitable parking.[/url]

20p for the first 2 hours at my local swimming pool, it's slightly further from the town centre proper than most car parks in town so it's not really abused either. £1 gets you a 3rd hour, which is the max you can buy and it's free after 6PM. There's an adjacent (although accessed from a different road) long stay that's something like £1.50 a day and is aimed straight at the shop workers.

[glasgow_bhoy]

West Brom is also BankPark. When you see West Bromwich town centre you'll realise why it is so cheap. The old High Street is a dump.

At 11pm it was even more terrifying than by day. Probably one of the only places I've been to in the UK and felt unsafe going for a quiet pint.

Very reasonable price- something like 50p for the hour I think (I didn't think the English had anywhere that cheap!), and at first I thought I liked the idea of charitable parking.[/url]

20p for the first 2 hours at my local swimming pool, it's slightly further from the town centre proper than most car parks in town so it's not really abused either. £1 gets you a 3rd hour, which is the max you can buy and it's free after 6PM. There's an adjacent (although accessed from a different road) long stay that's something like £1.50 a day and is aimed straight at the shop workers.

See I think free parking is better- as it is at most swimming pools and places other than town centres up here.

And Lincolnshire isn't the cheapest (assuming thats where your from...)- I think I paid £7 to park for the day in a council car park in Lincoln town centre. And that was 5 or 6 years ago so God knows how much that is in todays money!