Offshore workers parking at Dyce station for weeks on end

[Deltic1961]

Been an ongoing issue for years now with offshore workers leaving their cars at Dyce station then getting a shuttle but to heliports. Effect of this is that there are hardly ever any spaces for commuters to use since Dyce is about 6 miles from Aberdeen.

Scotrail aren't interested and keep saying the station belongs to the Council, who say it belongs to Scotrail. Signs say it must be used by railway byelaws so Scotrail are telling porkies, or don't have a clue. I've tried contacting Scotrail several times but their customer service is absolutely dire.

Passed by after the last train from Aberdeen had long gone last Friday night and the car park was almost full. Surely putting in a 24 hour limit would solve the problem instead of commuters who want to use the station unable to get a space due to oil industry workers leaving the cars there weeks on end free of charge who don't even use the train.

This photo was taken at midnight last Friday.

 

[Kite159]

Maybe not a 24 hour limit but maybe something like a 72 hour limit (3 days). Otherwise you will be pushing those passengers who might want to leave the car at the station and go away for the weekend (ie leaving on a Friday, back on the Sunday)

 

[Deltic1961]

Yeah, that's fair I guess, but there's still the issue of enforcement.

 

[Red Onion]

Maybe not a 24 hour limit but maybe something like a 72 hour limit (3 days). Otherwise you will be pushing those passengers who might want to leave the car at the station and go away for the weekend (ie leaving on a Friday, back on the Sunday)

I would concur with that. It’s a bit of a balancing act really.

Are there not signs stating that parking is subject to railway bye laws in any case?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Yeah, that's fair I guess, but there's still the issue of enforcement.

Pretty easy to get one of the parking shysters in in return for being able to keep the fines.

An option might be to fit ANPR and charge say £10 per day but with no charge for the first 24hrs.

 

[DarloRich]

Are they paying for parking tickets and abiding by the posted rules?

 

[Deltic1961]

Parking is free

 

[Ediswan]

The OP says that both ScotRail and the council deny the site belongs to them. However there is this sign.

That has a ScotRail logo, says ScotRail customers can park, and cites railway byelaws etc. No mention of charges there or anywhere else I can see (Google Street View December 2021).

 

[Kite159]

Pretty easy to get one of the parking shysters in in return for being able to keep the fines.

An option might be to fit ANPR and charge say £10 per day but with no charge for the first 24hrs.

You don't want to invite the parasites in, they add nothing to running the car park and will only target genuine passengers when they make little mistakes.

Charging £10 a day will be a good way to shift the issue from the station car park to side-streets, or just put off passengers from travelling by rail.

 

[MotCO]

The parking notice does not say what the penalty is for not abiding with the railway bye laws and regulations, so presumably there are none. Any move to enforce penalties, I presume, will therefore require new bye laws to be established.

 

[66701GBRF]

The sign does not forbid non ScotRail users from using the carpark.

 

[Deltic1961]

Well exactly, that's why so many people use it for free parking being near the airport and commuters actually using the train can't get a space.

 

[MotCO]

The sign does not forbid non ScotRail users from using the carpark.

But it says Scotrail customers can use the car park, which implies that if you are not a Scotrail customer, you can't.

 

[185]

14.2.1 bylaw states no person shall leave a vehicle in a place where it causes hinderance to a person using the railway.

This could therefore be used to say those fly parkers are obstructing railway customers.

 

[YorksLad12]

The thought occurs that if you did something wholly legal - a coffee van, rather than a car boot sale - in the station car park, without interfering in the running of the car park or the station, sooner or later someone would come along and say you need a permit and try to sell you one. At that point you'll know who claims responsibility for the car park, and you can do a big splash in the local media about how ScotRail/the council/whoever hasn't created enough parking spots at the station, and why the current ones can't be used. Then they might do something about it.

 

[Deltic1961]

Good idea, wife has a helll of a lot of junk I could start flogging!

 

[DarloRich]

Parking is free

then there needs to be enforcement of the rules - back to square 1

 

[mrcheek]

a lesson as to why "free parking" is a far more complex issue than people think

 

[Flying Snail]

Pre-pay Pay & Display with rates set at first 24h free, £5/day for next 3 days then £10/day for all additional days would seem to be the way to target the long-term while still allowing access for genuine rail users.

It would need a clamp/tow and fine outfit to enforce though.

The problem is, no-one wants fees and enforcement.

 

[WesternBiker]

a lesson as to why "free parking" is a far more complex issue than people think

Indeed - hospital car parks spring to mind (particularly here in London, where free on-street parking is limited or non-existent). There is always someone campaigning for hospital car parking to be free, until the spaces get taken up by commuters.

Surely for somewhere like Dyce, there could be parking season tickets?

 

[Wynd]

This issue would be somewhat resolved if it were drastically easier and cheaper to get to the heliport, and airport for that matter, via good public transport. As you know, if you live in rural Aberdeenshire (An oxymoron in itself, the whole place is rural!) and need to get to the airport, public transport just isn't an option. Its a taxi or drive.

The fact that so many workers feel their only viable option is to drive to the station and park there, as opposed to taking public transport, is revealing.

What would be a good case study, would be to examine where these "long term parkers" are registered. I'll bet its places that have no rail, or workable, bus connections.

Aberdeenshire has major transport problems, namely that nearly all journeys are car based. WE need to sort the root causes of that, not tinker with the poor outcomes as a result of it.

If there are viable alternatives, ones that are fast, reliable, predictable, quiet, high quality, comfortable, then folk will use them.

 

[Deltic1961]

From looking at the reg plates of the cars in the car park, a good lot seem to be from outwith the Grampian Region

 

[GusB]

From looking at the reg plates of the cars in the car park, a good lot seem to be from outwith the Grampian Region

That's no longer a reliable way to tell if a car is local, though. I've noticed that a lot of Vauxhall cars carry DL plates around here, for example. It also fails to take into account that some will be personalised plates too.

 

[Wynd]

From looking at the reg plates of the cars in the car park, a good lot seem to be from outwith the Grampian Region

Yes, but that doesn't tell you where they are currently registered.

It stands to reason that someone who will travel 100 miles offshore to an oil rig, will have very few scruples about travelling to London, or Wales to pick up a deal on a car.

Something which we already know is true because of the "Aberdeen Premium" on new cars that has existed here since the 80s.

 

[Watershed]

From looking at the reg plates of the cars in the car park, a good lot seem to be from outwith the Grampian Region

The place where a vehicle was first registered tells you very little about where its main user now lives.

 

[Flying Snail]

Yes, but that doesn't tell you where they are currently registered.

It stands to reason that someone who will travel 100 miles offshore to an oil rig, will have very few scruples about travelling to London, or Wales to pick up a deal on a car.

Something which we already know is true because of the "Aberdeen Premium" on new cars that has existed here since the 80s.

Going to a remote dealer to get a better deal is unscrupulous? I have no idea why it would be more expwensive in Aberdeen but that just sounds like sensible consumer behaviour.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Sep 2022 ==

This issue would be somewhat resolved if it were drastically easier and cheaper to get to the heliport, and airport for that matter, via good public transport. As you know, if you live in rural Aberdeenshire (An oxymoron in itself, the whole place is rural!) and need to get to the airport, public transport just isn't an option. Its a taxi or drive.

The fact that so many workers feel their only viable option is to drive to the station and park there, as opposed to taking public transport, is revealing.

What would be a good case study, would be to examine where these "long term parkers" are registered. I'll bet its places that have no rail, or workable, bus connections.

Aberdeenshire has major transport problems, namely that nearly all journeys are car based. WE need to sort the root causes of that, not tinker with the poor outcomes as a result of it.

If there are viable alternatives, ones that are fast, reliable, predictable, quiet, high quality, comfortable, then folk will use them.

If as you say the region is so rural there is no realistic way of providing public transport that in any way is competitive with private car travel.

The only issue here seems to be the lack of proper parking facilities provided by the airport for their customers, and of course the lack of care by the railway/local authority in protecting the parking facility for railway customers.

 

[Ediswan]

The only issue here seems to be the lack of proper parking facilities provided by the airport for their customers

Here is the airport's parking offer for offshore workers: https://www.aberdeenairport.com/transport-and-directions/aberdeen-airport-parking/offshore-parking/

Terms & Conditions: £4.00 per day applies to stay of 10 days. All stays up to 10 days is charged at £5.10 per day, all stays in excess of 10 days are £4.80.

 

[GusB]

When I was living and working in Aberdeen (almost 20 years ago now) it was commonplace for companies in the oil and gas sector to provide transport to and from the heliport, or to provide suitable overnight accommodation instead. Arranging early morning taxi transfers was a regular part of my job and some companies had stricter budgets than others (I'm looking at a certain Anglo-Dutch firm here) and required us to make sure we picked up as many people in one car as possible.

Would it be safe to assume that employees are now having to cover these expenses themselves, and are therefore opting to take their own cars instead?

 

[Deltic1961]

Companies used to provide train tickets to Aberdeen, overnight accommodation and then taxi to the airport/heliport. Those days are long gone now.

 

[GusB]

Companies used to provide train tickets to Aberdeen, overnight accommodation and then taxi to the airport/heliport. Those days are long gone now.

That is why you're seeing an increase in non-rail parking at a station which does not have parking charges, especially when the alternatives are rather expensive!

@Ediswan quoted the relevant bit regarding parking from the Aberdeen Airport website, but I'll repeat it here for clarity:

Official Aberdeen Airport Offshore Parking | Aberdeen Airport

Located near the heliport and our long stay car park, off-shore workers can park their cars securely when heading out for offshore work.

www.aberdeenairport.com

*Terms & Conditions: £4.00 per day applies to stay of 10 days. All stays up to 10 days is charged at £5.10 per day, all stays in excess of 10 days are £4.80. Special rate applies to Aberdeen International Airport Long Stay parking. Parking ticket must be validated at validating station prior to returning to our car park. Prices are subject to change and availability.

£40 for ten days parking at the Airport does not seem to be unreasonable, on the face of it. However, when you factor in the reality that most offshore workers are away for two weeks at the very minimum (three on, three off seems to be the standard now), that means that the parking rate for any of these workers is going to be 14 x £4.80 (£67.20) up to 21 x £4.80 (£100.80). These figures don't seem that unreasonable to me but, if offshore workers are having to cover their own costs, it's still probably cheaper than having to pay for travel to Aberdeen, book into a hotel and then still have to pay for travel to the airport for a flight. Annoying as it may be, I don't blame anyone for trying to save a bit of money!