Re: B&Q self checkout machines

[Jules]

There are no pay ones in the town near where I live, but I'm in the wrong country ;)

[Dave Liquorice]

I doubt they would be that hard to come by. Might need some electronics skills and abilty to program a PIC or similar like the old Sky card hack. And this box would be in your pocket, swipe the goods past it, they tag gets zapped, place goods in trolly and wheel them out in full view...

[Dave Liquorice]

No charge for parking down in the town(*). Brampton has free disc parking (2hrs max, no return within an hour). Penrith has a mix of Pay in Dismay and free disc parking. Hexham similar to Penrith. Carlisle mostly Pay in Dismay (1-2hrs =A31.60) but if you know where to go there is free disc parking (1hr max I think) but they tend to be

100yds further walk from the shops and getting a space is more luck than anything else.

(*) They have just repainted and extended the double yellow lines. They have yet to update the signage. So some is just plain wrong as it refers to the restrictions of the previous single yellow line, others are missing just a grey post, others are blank just a yellow plate. Thus the nice bright new double yellows are not enforceable due to the incorrect signage mind you we only get a traffic warden round once a month if that...

[Dave Liquorice]

You think I haven't tried it both ways up in a trolly that won't work with it?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

There are free car parks round here too. Things like shopping centres. But if you prefer to wander round High Street shops rather than a purpose built centre you'll likely have to pay to park. So I'd guess no different from anywhere else.

[jkn]

tee hee.

On the 'phone you often get, after giving your name, 'And how are you spelling that?'. I sometimes reply "Today, I am spelling it with a 'Q' ..."

J^n

[The Medway Handyman]

Medway Council regard parking simpy as a revenue source. Charges enforced until 10:00pm, whole areas where there is no free parking at all, the town centre is a joke. They don't give a toss about local shops or local traders.

[Frank Erskine]

On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:27:21 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Liquorice" had this to say:

Hmm - it seems that everywhere I go in and around the Lakes has boodly expensive parking charges (obviously apart from the small villages). I'm overdue for a camping holiday across there - it must be three or four years since my last visit.

In Hexham the secret is to park in the Tesco carp ark, from where it's not _too_ far to walk to anywhere in the town. If you call into Tesco and buy some token item you feel a bit less guilty about using their fish boat.

I haven't been to Carlisle for - ooh - maybe 25+ years. In fact all I remember about the place is the GPO (BT) radio tower/mast (Harraby?). It was linked with a GPO station, Hopealone, which I used to look after for a while, carrying TV and other stuff to/from Pontop Pike.

That figures. I 'm sure the local 'authorities' rely on the local peoples' naivety (sp?) regarding parking legislation.

[The Medway Handyman]

Why are you called Tim if you inhabit a bumpy jumper?

[Clive George]

Worse, they actually charge for them in some, not just ask for a deposit. I think that was Las Vegas.

[Clive George]

I got one or two during a 3 week holiday in the US. The information they were recording wasn't actually checked - i might even have not given them any (can't remember). Unlike clubcard, where you get your vouchers through the post so need to provide some valid info, getting the savings there and then means no need for an actual address etc :-)

[Tony Bryer]

That was LB Richmond too - I've seen them handing out tickets at

6.25p.m. on a Saturday evening at Tesco Teddington. But never to be seen when there is a car parked so as to cause genuine danger or inconvenience.

[Bob Eager]

He doesn't. The first (two word) sentence answers the question "What profile?". The rest is separate.

[Bruce]

You guessed wrong. I used to park free of charge very close to the town centre in Yorkshire. There were 30 minute, 1 hour and 2 hour spaces, all free of charge, but the 2 hour spaces were a little further away and only rarely vacant. There were privately owned car parks that charged; these were used by people who needed longer stays or couldn't find a free parking space. I used those for less than one trip in ten.

I suppose to someone who doesn't venture out of the south east very often, this must seem unusual. But it is the norm in many parts of the north.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I 'used to' park free too. Even outside my front door.

There are a number of free parking spaces in most areas here too. Provided you can find a vacant one.

So you're implying no council owned car parks that charge? Have you been there recently?

There are occasions where the easy way out is simply to pay for parking. And to facilitate this I keep change in my car - it even has a slot marked 'coins' for this. So hardly as unusual as you seem to think. Those coins can also be used for the odd toll - or even as the deposit for a supermarket trolley. Which is where I came in...

BTW, I'd suggest you visit some of the touristy places 'up north' if you think free parking is the norm there.

[Bruce]

There was one serving the town centre. I was there in September 2009.

Well, I also live in the south east, and keep coins in the car for the same purpose. Despite what you appear to think, I recognised the coin slots as soon as I saw them. ;-)

The town I lived in is a seaside resort. The locals know where to park for free; the tourists tend to use different car parks where they are asked to pay through the nose. ;-)

[tim....]

I guess that it isn't the case in Leeds/Bradford, but IME N Yorkshire market towns have "disk" parking, even in the town centre.

tim

[tim....]

You're lucky, most large places have gone over to 24 hour charging.

I think they do, they just haven't noticed the effect yet

tim

[Jules]

Make sure to tell them that it's a silent Q, though.

Throw a few backspaces and tabs in there too, just for good measure.

[<me9]

Several local ones have recently contraversially introduced charges. Stokesley, Thirsk, Northallerton and Bedale.