I seem to recall the planning permission at Bristol was dependent on some agreement _not_ to charge for parking for some number of years. Although it's infamous for blocking the motorway junction every weekend, the store location is basically residential (if overlooked by a motorway). Having skinflint motorists parking in nearby streets rather than paying £1 for Ikea itself would be a disaster locally.
"Mimzer": Someone who fails to 'make good progress' whilst driving and with no regard to needs / skills of those around them ... ;-)
These are sometimes new drivers (them displaying a green "L" would make me much more tollerant) or sometimes, older folk. This is sometimes 'flagged' by a constant indicator signal or fog light.
Folk will appear to be mimzers when lost, drunk or on drugs. Sight seeing is also similar to Mimzer driving style (I don't think you can say 'mimzing' ).
Also hesitation when 99% of other drives would commit and go. Sitting at green lights for 10 seconds before pulling away or not going through a gap twice the width of their car (although 'Mimsers' are normally to do with a vehicle in motion rather than parking etc).
There is often good reason for their caution .. generally it's sheer incompetence (and noted by the range of paint colours seen on all the bumpers / panels around their vehicle). It can also be through distraction (kids, passengers, mobile phones, map reading, makeup etc).
When faced with something requiring *some* driving skill they just freeze / stop, normally right in the middle of the road, junction, entrance etc. If anyone hits them it's not thir fault as they wern't moving. Indicating left (if you are lucky) to enter a petrol station, getting half the car in then stopping is favourite. In spite of the forecourt (or garden centre) being empty.
If you want to find one just go out on the public highway and have need to get somethere in good time. They see you coming, pull out in front of you then drive at the following speeds:
20-23 in a 30 (no matter what time of day or how clear / straight the road is). However they will do the same speed range in a 20 Zone? 32-34 in a 40 (as above)34-45 in a 50 (except for the bits where you stood a tiny chance of overtaking then they speed up to 51)
39-46 in a 60 or 70 (where you can't believe they would be going that slow on a motorway and end up having to slow up behind them rather than forcing yourself into the fast moving surrounding you ...) ;-(You ger 'Mimsers', 'most of us' then 'Nutters' ;-)
Nutters *usually* just kill themselves (and / or their mates) whereas Mimzers force us to kill ourselves with sheer frustration. ;-(
HTH ;-)
All the best ..
T i m
I was told by Brent Park that delivery to just north of Luton would be around £80.
Or they might tighten it.
...which is a mere stone's throw away. However, what would that 80 quid have bought you? If I could have, say, six flatpack bookcases, a Klippan sofa and one of their daybeds - with mattresses - delivered for around that charge, I'd probably go for it.
MM
That was an excursion just to see how horrendous the journey would be, and it lived up to expectations. As for the £1 parking charge, it's the thin end of the wedge. I have shopped at IKEA for 30 years, including when I lived in Germany, and this is the first I've heard of them charging for parking.
MM
Sadly, StealthUK fails to see it as such...!
MM
How so? Did they require you to pay by CC? Although, yes, I have heard that proffering cash over a couple of hundred quid nowadays will render one suspicious of being involved in money laundering.
MM
I wouldn't be too harsh on IKEA -or any other store for that mattter. Once upon a time ... ; a check-out operator at Tesco apologised to me for a delay while she placed cash into a pneumatic capsule together with a print-out from her till. While she was processing my order, I asked her what/why she'd done. Apparently, the store's insurers insist that no till contained more than £nnn worth of cash - the cash level was monitored by the EPOS system and the operator got a displayed instruction to deposit cash when an upper-limit was approaching. I'd surmise that IKEA's system marched to the same insurer's drum-beat. Quite hard to operate a store if you're invalidating the complete insurance policy by breaching any one aspect of the clauses.
It's your choice. You don't have to shop at Ikea. If you want to you have to pay whatever you see as penalties.
Mary
Hi
Ikea are building a store in Milton Keynes on the Granby development (for the new football stadium), along with an Asda for those fed up of Tescos dominance of MK.
Not sure of the opening date, but 2006 I guess at the earliest.
Cheers
Kev
Sorry to reply to my own post. I should have said "planning to build"......
I asked for that! Sounds good though, I like trotters.
Oh, in that cas I'll get back into shouting mode :-)
MARY
Well, that's true, the driver whose car hits one in front of his is at fault becaus he was too close and not in enough control to stop in time.
I've never seen anyone do that. However I've often been overtaken very fast when I've been doing 30 in a 30 limit.
We live in a 20 zone. Very, very few people keep to that. Most of the traffic is going to the offices of Leeds Healthcare.
So much for caring for health.
You should keep yourself under more control. You're not forced to do anything. Better to be late than dead. I've stopped being frustrated on the roads, even calming spouse when he rages at the fools who overtake, honk and flash when we're keeping to the speed limit - which is, after all, a maximum and not a minimum.
Mary
They better not. Stockport refused to have one there - where I could have easily got to it by public transport ... my nearest is at Warrington and I suspect it'd take ages to get there via the train and then bus.
Not that I go anymore as its just really tedious having to queue off the motorway to get there and then you have to traipse round with thousands of other people. They don't want to sell online either as it can't induce sales mentality and spending binges online as easily as in store.
Aren't they opening one in Southampton?
J.
Indeed. Gone are the days when the customer was king. Now the customer is increasingly seen as a money factory, and not just by IKEA.
MM
Or, alternatively, complain and get as many people to do the same. IKEA would change its crass policies pretty quickly if customers voted with their feet. However, this is, of course, Britain, so I won't hold my breath...
MM
Yes. At IKEA it is. Slippery slope, thin end of the wedge. It's like the Skye Bridge toll. Finally, after people had even gone to prison in protest, that stupid toll was lifted recently.
MM
Yeah, their marketing mentality does seem to have a screw loose. They take the attitude that M&S once did. Stuff you, Mr Customer. Buy on our terms or sod off. Now look where M&S is.
MM
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