Northern Rail Car Parking Charges

[Nickt]

Apologies if this has already been raised - I may have missed it.

Went to Harrogate station to buy car park tickets for Saturday and Sunday while we go to Peterborough; £115 return for 2 with Senior Railcards.

I was expecting to pay £6 per day - I can recall when it was £3pd for rail travellers. I was gobsmacked to be told that I was expected to shell out an additional £10 for overnight parking - total cost = £22.

It's an unstaffed car park, minimal security and no admission of liability in the event of loss, damage or theft. I did ask if that extra fee provided me with a personal security guard to stand over my car, but apparently not.

This sort of price gouging really isn't encouraging people to use the train. I've completed a feedback form and asked for a justification but I'm not expecting a sensible reply.

Am I unreasonable to think we are being ripped off?

 

[GuyGibsonVC]

It seems to be quite polarised in cost across stations.

Morpeth is £3 for 24 hours which is very reasonable.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Am I unreasonable to think we are being ripped off?

Harrogate is a town centre station, and the town attracts a lot of visitors. Northern are (depending on your point of view) charging the market rate / price gouging / deterring non-rail travellers from using the car park. Obviously the final point could be achieved in other ways

But it’s certainly not a company wide policy - the three stations near me all have free car parks

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@Nickt. Just to be clear, have you been charged 2 x £6 (the daily rate for Harrogate station, it seems) plus 1 x £10 on top for "overnight parking" as an additional fee?

 

[Nickt]

I would have been charged £22 for parking from 10:00 Saturday until 14:00 Sunday - 2 x £6 + £10 as apologetically explained by the booking clerk. However, I chose to park on a street 1 mile outside town and use my dodderer’s free bus pass. My car was probably as safe there as in the station yard - and I’ve saved £22. But not so convenient.
On returning to Hgt, the car park was probably around only 25% occupied.

 

[Kite159]

How on earth can they justify an extra £10 for parking overnight on top of the usual 2 daily charges?

That sort of behaviour might diesncourage potential passengers who instead of driving from the Harrogate suburbs to park to simply driving more of the way, especially if going out overnight

 

[Bletchleyite]

Overnight parking charges/fines tacitly encourage drink driving when it'd be better the car was left there, and so I can't possibly support them.

Aside from that, pricing is often set to be slightly more expensive than nearby Council car parks and similar, as otherwise non rail users would clog the car park up. (Rail users only is hard to enforce, as a cheap single to the next stop works around that).

 

[CyrusWuff]

I was expecting to pay £6 per day - I can recall when it was £3pd for rail travellers. I was gobsmacked to be told that I was expected to shell out an additional £10 for overnight parking - total cost = £22.

I think the member of staff may be confused. Choosing two days in the RingGo app (Location 5711) quotes a price of £12 as you'd expect.

The £10 for overnight parking is if you arrive after 4pm and depart by 8am next day, otherwise it's £4 for up to 2 hours or £6 per day.

 

[47742]

Overnight parking charges/fines tacitly encourage drink driving when it'd be better the car was left there, and so I can't possibly support them.

They encourage no such thing. If someone operates a vehicle on the road then they alone are responsible for their conduct and fitness to do so. The railway has nothing to do with it, even if they choose to levy a £1000 overnight supplement.

 

[Nickt]

I think the member of staff may be confused. Choosing two days in the RingGo app (Location 5711) quotes a price of £12 as you'd expect.

The £10 for overnight parking is if you arrive after 4pm and depart by 8am next day, otherwise it's £4 for up to 2 hours or £6 per day.

Thanks, interesting . . . .

 

[Dr Hoo]

At Hope (and possibly other stations in the Hope Valley) ‘overnight’ parking is restricted, probably because it used to attract a lot of camper vans in the National Park.
A ‘24-hour’ ticket is automatically pared back to finish around midnight by RingGo.

 

[Nickt]

Finally coming back to this for the sake of completeness. I checked with Ringgo who confirmed that, by using their app, the charge for an overnight stay would be £12 = 2 days at £6pd. Went back to the booking office who held firmly to the view that they had to charge £10 for an overnight charge since that was their instruction - Nuremburg defence. They refused to listen to Ringgo's view.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Aug 2024 ==

Then went to the redoubtable Brian Dunsby of the Harrogate Line Users Group who replied:

We got some feedback at today’s Rail User Group Meeting on your query as follows:

Questions & Answers:

• BLD – Over Night Parking Rates Harrogate Station addition charge of £10. There shouldn't be an additional £10 charge overnight. This tariff is intended for anyone wishing to park up after 16.00 hrs and leave by 08.00 hrs the following morning. This opens up the car park for anyone wishing to leave it there for the night including local residents. Integrated Transport Manager is investigating and looking to implement a solution with the Ticket Office on station. Additional separate ticket covering 1600-0800 from the ticket office.

This seems to confirm that it was wrong to be told you had to pay the overnight £10 charge in addition to the all-day rates.



Regards



Brian L Dunsby OBE

Harrogate Line Supporters Group

P O Box 888

HARROGATE

HG2 8UH

Tel: 01423 879208

DD: 01423 870025

Cell: 07836 537512

Brian.dunsby@HarrogateLine.org

which is all pretty clear. Sounds like miscommunication and unclear instructions which should easily and promptly be remedied.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Sounds like miscommunication and unclear instructions which should easily and promptly be remedied.

You'd like to think that anyone who's been overcharged will have the £10 refunded, but somehow I doubt it.