Support our Nation today - please donate here
News

Car park which made seaside village a ‘no-go’ zone gets a revamp

18 Feb 2023 3 minute read
Llangrannog – withe the controversial car park in the foreground. Photo rikdom is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Bruce Sinclair, local democracy reporter

Hopes have been raised that a new parking machine at a car park that has been at the centre of a Welsh language row, will resolve issues which have made a west Wales seaside village ‘no-go’ zone.

In the last few years, a privately-owned car park at the Ceredigion village of Llangrannog’s has made the  headlines due to a malfunctioning pay and display machine and a court case against a Welsh language campaigner who refused to pay a parking fine, unless it was translated into Welsh.

The defective machine has meant users had to phone a number to arrange payment or download and use an app to register payment – options often thwarted by poor wi-fi  access in the village.

Some motorists who managed to pay for a ticket after struggling to get a signal were subsequently  fined for over-running a 10-minute period of grace at the car park, run and managed by Worthing-based One Parking Solution Ltd.

Horrified

At the height of the car park chaos, Dr Kathryn Dawes, secretary of the Llangrannog Welfare Committee, said: “The community feel helpless and horrified at the bad press and bad feeling this is generating.

“It’s so upsetting when people declare they will never come to Llangrannog again, all because of a small square of car park in the middle of the village.”

The plight of motorists caught out by slow connections was previously taken up by Sara Powell, a retired barrister from nearby New Quay, who had called on anyone receiving such a fine to fight it.

The new machinery and signage at Llangrannog car park. Picture: Dr Kathryn Dawes.

Earlier this week, Dr Dawes said it was hoped new machinery – using a simpler old tech method of parking payments – would now solve previous problems.

“The Llangrannog beachfront car park has a new parking machine which takes coins and cards. You can also use JustPark to pay (but wifi is very slow).

“The rule that you must pay within 10 minutes of entering the car park remains in place. There are new signs which clearly state the conditions of parking.”

She warned: “It should be noted that vandalism of the new machine or any car park property will be on CCTV. Please do not tamper with the machine; this means others cannot pay and is counter-productive.

“We hope that the new machine will alleviate the problems with the car park over the last few years.”

English-only

In May last year Welsh language campaigner Toni Schiavone, a former teacher and education officer for the Welsh Government, faced legal action from the car park’s owners after refusing to pay an English only parking fine received while visiting the seaside village.

Mr Schiavone declined to pay as the the penalty notice, and all subsequent correspondence, was in English only.

Mr Schiavone says that he contacted the company requesting the penalty notice and further correspondence in Welsh several times, stating that he would then pay the fine.

“In an area as Welsh as Llangrannog why can’t we expect a Welsh language service?” Mr Schiavone said.

The case against him, heard at Aberystwyth Justice Centre last May, was thrown out because no representative from One Parking Solution attended.

One Parking Solution Ltd has been contacted for a response.


Support our Nation today

For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
9 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Carol Loughlin
Carol Loughlin
1 year ago

Why did it take several years to resolve this issue? Maybe they were making more money from fines than from parking fees. 🤔

Steve George
Steve George
1 year ago
Reply to  Carol Loughlin

Absolutely. It seemed almost like you only had to drive in to be susceptible to one of their fines.

Steve George
Steve George
1 year ago

I’m also a victim of this car park. I parked there, paid in full using coins, but the parking machine misprinted my registration. One Parking Solution, the sharks that run the car park for its absentee landlord, pursued me for over 15 months using threatening letters, debt collectors and latterly by taking out a county court case against me. Throughout, I refused to pay and pointed out that I had physical evidence (the original parking voucher) that proved I had paid in full and on time. This fell on deaf years as the business model is clearly based on the… Read more »

Chris
Chris
1 year ago
Reply to  Steve George

Well said I agree 💯👍

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
1 year ago

Who owns the land?

Steve George
Steve George
1 year ago
Reply to  Mab Meirion

I believe it’s some chap from Swansea. He doesn’t care so long as the money keeps rolling in.

Alun Gerrard
Alun Gerrard
1 year ago

In the late 1960 ‘s many people sprayed red paint on English only road signs . Due to the expense of replacing the damaged signs bilingual signs were introduced. It took hundreds of years for the Welsh to get what was theirs. Today I note that the Welsh not signs have returned. On Anglesey and Gwynedd there are no bilingual signs at all….visit Caergeiliog and Llanfairfechan to see no Welsh signs. ..mostly steet sign names. The latter village is no longer in Gwynedd…it is controlled by Conwy council…Gwynedd is shrinking.

George Bodley
George Bodley
1 year ago

Meibion glyndwr should visit the site and target that machine and camera perhaps then one parking solutions will get their sh*t together

Chris
Chris
1 year ago

Car parks are just a cash cows & only stops people visiting so they should be free for the 1st hour or two which would help

Our Supporters

All information provided to Nation.Cymru will be handled sensitively and within the boundaries of the Data Protection Act 2018.