Broadwater parents furious at parking meters

The car park behind the old Woolworths store in Broadwater switched to pay and display parking on Monday, April 26, hitting families who use it to drop their children off at Broadwater CE School in Rectory Gardens.

Parents have reacted angrily to the news, saying it leaves them with little choice but to pay for taking their children to school.

Drop off

Mel Strickland, of Westcourt Road, who has one child at the school, said: "It's bad enough as it is with all the parents using the car park."

Mrs Strickland, 37, added: "You're going to get people trying to use residential parking, which will anger residents, and other people getting tickets for parking for 10 minutes - it's going to be bedlam."

Wayne Pilling, of Rectory Gardens, who has a daughter at the school, said: "People are going to have to pay money to drop off their children - it's ludicrous.

"They say it's about giving the car park back to the shoppers, but most people dropping off their children are gone by 9.15am and most people go shopping after that."

Wayne, 40, added: "It's not like you ever really struggle as a shopper to get a space in the car park."

Refused permit

The fares are active from 6am to 6pm and will cost 60p for an hour, 1 for two, 1.50 for three, and 2 for four hours.

One resident in a nearby block of flats said she faced the prospect of having to pay to park outside her own home because she had been refused a resident permit in the new car park.

But Janet Williams, who runs Broadwater News, expressed a different view and suggested the introduction of pay and display parking could be beneficial.

She said: "The Broadwater car park used to be filled with people who work in Broadwater. It's meant for shoppers, so, hopefully, shoppers will now be able to get spaces."

Both the parking company, Capital 2 Coast, and the leasing agents, Parsons, Son and Basley, refused to comment.

-------------------------------------

Click here to go back to Worthing news.

Where are you? Add your pin to the Herald's international readers' map by clicking here.

Email the Herald: [email protected]

Click here for the Herald staff directory.

Want to read this page in French, German, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Urdu or 48 other languages? click here for Google translate.