23 June 2009

The Maes - A Parking or a No Parking zone?

Now that the new signs have been erected, it should be plain for all to see that the "New Maes" is aimed at keeping shoppers away from town. That is to say, to make it as difficult as possible for people to park...Or are we missing the point?

Caernarfon Online cameras were out this week to see exactly what is going on at the Maes and we were astonished at what we saw. We have received loads of messages from our readers about £60 tickets being issued all over town. But it seems that no one is bothered about where they park on the Maes. This is VERY alarming because every day people are telling tales of "near misses" on the square. One thing's for certain, if something isn't done soon then we will be reporting a fatality on the Maes and we would hate to be the ones to say we told you so.

Our cameras started rolling at around midday and it was plain to see that despite the new signs, motorists parked all over the place and made it dangerous for other motorists and road users to navigate safely.

We did not see a parking warden on the Maes until 4.30pm but alarmingly, motorists were still parking there despite her presence. We were amazed to witness cars stopping and even chatting with the warden and then walking off leaving their cars illegally parked!

This is clearly sending out the wrong message.

If one motorist is booked then surely the next should be booked as well. We cannot have double standards, otherwise the council should just scrap the whole thing and let people do what they want.

Take a look at the whole video above, you will be alarmed at what you see.