Just got a letter (not even addressed to me, just shoved through the door) from Haringey Council about the new Controlled Parking Zone. All very boring but I read it anyway and was glad because... buried in the middle of a paragraph it said that all visitors parking permits for roads within the new Zone B and C of the Finsbury Park CPZ must be exchanged by post by 14th October and if you used your existing permits after this date they would be invalid!!!!
I bought £200 worth of permits 2 weeks ago thinking they would last me until 2015 and I just think it's outrageous they didn't tell me at the time I would need to exchange them.
What's worse is that you have to do it by post, you can't do it in person, and who knows how long it will take. Plus what if my permits go missing - that's £200 lost... am so annoyed! Obviously I will have to shell out for recorded delivery but even thenI don't trust the council not to lose them all and to send them back correctly. Plus I don't trust them to do it on time. Maybe I'm being harsh but that's how I feel!
By the way, this affects anyone who lives in the following roads:
Finsbury Park B CPZ includes: Connaught, Dagmar, Oakfield, Cornwall, Carlton Beatrice and Lancaster Roads, Upper Tollington Park (between Oakfield Road and halfway between its junctions with Lancaster Road and Florence Road), Scarborough and Carlisle Roads.
Finsbury Park C CPZ includes: Stapleton Hall Road (between Stroud Green and Lancaster Road) Mount Pleasant Crescent, Albert, Lorne, Marquis, Osbourne Roads and Upper Tollington Park (between Stroud Green Road and half way between its junctions with Lancaster and Florence Roads) Florence and Victoria Roads and Terrace.
Comments
I don't have much faith in their systems. Recently I had to park my car in Crouch End for two weeks, while the council tried to decide if they were going to give me a resident's permit or not, I'd moved (I had told the council my moving in date, was paying council tax etc). The previous owners of my house still had a permit they hadn't returned, which just brought the system to a grinding halt, where someone thought they would just put the application aside and ignore it for a while and not tell me.
Contact details:
tel - Customer Services 0208 489 1000
e - parking@haringey.gov.uk
I noticed as well that if you want a weekend or a fortnightly permit now, you have to apply in advance giving the car registration. I've still got some two weekly ones which you have to write the registration number on. Now if you have guests to stay, or if you're having builders doing work, you need to plan ahead and ask for their car registration number probably ten days in advance and then hope they don't do something rash, like use a different car.
The new permit is so low quality, I wouldn't worry about visitors permits any more, simply scan your residents permit, add a tiny bit of photoshop work to change the reg and print. Hey presto, free parking for anyone.
So how do I know if I've got the right ones?
Dear
Thank you for your email regarding your visitor permits for the New Controlled Parking Zone.
Regrettably we are not able to allow the old parking vouchers to be used in the new CPZ as each voucher is area sensitive. As your particular road is now in a different CPZ, they would not indicate the correct area and the CEO’s would not know that you were simply using old stock or if you were someone from a different area of the CPZ choosing to use your vouchers incorrectly. I trust that this information is useful.
We are not supplying freepost envelops for resident to return their permits as resident may or may not required a permit exchange.
However once we have processed the new voucher we are sending the new voucher out by recorded delivery as these have a monetary value and we need to be sure that these are delivered to the correct address.
We are sorry that you are unhappy with this decision , as we feel that it is the most cost effective way of conduction this exchange process.
I hope this information is helpful.
Yours Sincerely
Kumud Joshi
Parking Service
Place and Sustainability Directorate
London Borough of Haringey
Parking Website
http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/environment_and_transport/parking.htm