Privileged Parking

I RECENTLY took a 92-year-old lady to a concert at The Royal Hall in Harrogate. I naturally sought a parking place as close as possible to The Hall and noticed that at the front of the Town Hall there are several parking spaces marked on the road surface as either –"loading bay" or – "permit holders only".

Noting that the Town Hall was closed and in complete darkness, it was after 7.30 pm, I parked on the "permit holders only" space, duly displaying my passenger's disabled parking permit which I thought over-rode such a restriction at such a time.

On my return I found a parking ticket which when later queried was confirmed as having been correctly served.

I fail to see why extremely valuable parking spaces should be reserved for permit holders when the Town Hall is obviously closed.

I note the parking spaces on the other side of the road are reserved for permit holders only during normal business hours ie 9am-6pm Mondays through Fridays.

Why are there apparently some privileged parking spaces where such a sensible arrangement apparently does not apply?

Obviously it is necessary for the parking spaces outside the Town Hall's front door to be reserved for the Mayor or for Senior Council Executives but does that apply 24/7? Can it be that those parking spaces are used by certain privileged purposes for other than Council business?

If so, I wonder if the people involved disclose on their income tax returns that they enjoy this valuable perk which would appear to be a significant "benefit in kind" which the rest of us have to declare on P 11 D' s and on which we are taxed.

Generally I must say that I feel the control of parking in Harrogate is over­officious and you would be doing all the residents of the town a service if you conducted an enquiry into such questions as:­

1. Are there people enjoying free undeclared parking privileges?

2. Are Harrogate's traffic wardens paid or rewarded on the number of tickets they can issue?

3. What are the figures for total parking revenues collected by Harrogate Council and what part of them are spent on improving parking facilities?

Finally it would be helpful if you were able to publish some details of just who is responsible – I mean individual names, departments and sections for traffic management in this deservedly popular town.