Stafford - Virgin Car Park

[Masbroughlad]

I have to go to Queens Hospital in Birmingham every 3 months. I travel from Stafford to University.

Am I wrong, or did there used to be a cheaper rate in the Stafford car park if you parked after 11am?

I deliberately asked for a later appointment at QEH, to hopefully get an off-peak car park place.

I have been today - £11 for my train ticket. £12 to park for just over 4 hours. FFS. Please Virgin, not every body using your car park is taking an inter-city, long day journey with you.

Surely it would be sensible to have long-term, medium term and short term parking?

A good example of a long distance operator not giving a stuff about other train users.

 

[thenorthern]

I think it did used to have a cheaper rate I know Stoke-on-Trent does for later parking.

 

[BHXDMT]

Yes, there used to be an Off Peak fee which was charged after around 10:00. It seems to have vanished at a number of their stations. Birmingham International (£12) and Wolverhampton (£9) are two that I know have gone to a flat fee on weekdays.

Birmingham International particularly irritated me, as it was great to use for concerts of an evening at the Genting Arena... you could park for £5. Now it's £12 on a weekday or £9 on a weekend. Their response was they were bringing their charges in line with other car parks nearby.... I see the NEC now charge £12 for their parking, so that adds up. However Genting Arena still charge £10 (or £8 if you pre-pay) for evening shows so they are now cheaper.

 

[Hazlehead]

The problem was that as rightly pointed out that they were too cheap compared to other car parks so have been brought in line with those. And because of the earlier cheaper prices car parks were being used and filled up not by rail users but by people working in local area. I know it doesn't help the poster but just thought I'd clarify why. Sadly another example of people taking advantage of something that then results in most other people suffering consequences

 

[hawk1911]

Yes, it seems the off-peak rate no longer applies Monday to Friday at Stafford: https://www.virgintrains.co.uk/stations-destinations/parking/stafford

The £12 charge does seem excessive comapred to the Council long stay car parks which are £4 for the day.

So you have a choice of paying £4 for a town centre space, and walking to the station, or paying £12 for the convenience of parking at the station.

 

[Amy Worrall]

Coventry has a discount for the car park if you have a rail season ticket.

 

[the101]

I think it did used to have a cheaper rate I know Stoke-on-Trent does for later parking.

Not any more, it doesn't. £12 per day Monday to Friday, £6 per day at the weekend.

 

[dk1]

It does seem that many VTWC car parks have been static on pricing for many years & therefore bound to cause a stir when ramped up (excuse the pun) so much. I have noticed that the public have obviously given up & accepted it as not so many grumpy tweets to Twitter Towers now.

In Norwich the Riverside Multi-Storey doubles up as the majority of Station parking but does have a limit of a few hundred spaces for rail. Even though they place signs outside stating 'Rail Spaces Full' many passengers have no option & are shocked when the £20 daily rate often exceeds the price of their train tickets.

 

[30907]

Looks as if the offpeak discount has been withdrawn completely then - Preston no longer has it either (as I discovered the hard way).

 

[Masbroughlad]

Sadly, next time I will drive instead of taking the train. It's things like this that put people off taking the train.

Out of interest, can I park for free at Penkridge?

 

[6Gman]

I sometimes think VTWC is a car park operator, running trains as a sideline.

 

[neilb62]

Sadly when Preston's was 4 quid a day it was full by 8-30am being the cheapest car park for miles. Now its more expensive at least rail-users get a chance to use it. I wonder if some sort of scheme could be brought in to offset part of the cost against a rail ticket when purchased?