Matchday Parking Insufficient

[Fuzz]

It was a big game for both clubs today, and therefore surely a decent number of people expected to turn up. People were being turned away from the car park (the one by the Hazelwoods stand) as it was full long before kickoff. This of course resulted in supporters of both clubs being angry and frustrated. Trying to find somewhere to park in a residential area was not an enviable task, to say the least. I am somewhat out of the loop, so has the dire parking situation for big games been brought up with the board recently?

[Jerry St Clair]

If the car park is full, what do you expect them to do?

[Fuzz]

If the car park is full, what do you expect them to do?

Obviously they are going to turn people away if it's full. My question is if the board is aware of the insufficient parking facilities and if they plan to do anything about it for the bigger games. There was some seriously p****d off people today.

[Jerry St Clair]

Do you think the club should provide unlimited parking for everyone who expects to be able to park outside the ground? If so, how?

[Leckyfan]

Which car park are you talking about? The main car park (run by the football club) or the Parklands car park (run by the community centre, independent of the club)? The Hazelwoods stand backs on to Whaddon Road, so it’s not at all obvious which car park you are referring to.

[Fuzz]

Which car park are you talking about? The main car park (run by the football club) or the Parklands car park (run by the community centre, independent of the club)? The Hazelwoods stand backs on to Whaddon Road, so it’s not at all obvious which car park you are referring to.

Ah - it's the Parklands one then, as the other one said 'permit holders only'' (and was full anyway) so I was directed to the one around the corner.

[Fuzz]

Do you think the club should provide unlimited parking for everyone who expects to be able to park outside the ground? If so, how?

Unlimited...?! No. Just sufficient to accommodate parking for the bigger games.

[asl]

I always use on-street parking. If I think the match is going to be very busy, I make sure I get there early. Sometimes I have to walk a mile - and I realise that I'm lucky to have that ability. If I couldn't walk, I'd properly book parking in advance at the club.

[Fuzz]

I always use on-street parking. If I think the match is going to be very busy, I make sure I get there early. Sometimes I have to walk a mile - and I realise that I'm lucky to have that ability. If I couldn't walk, I'd properly book parking in advance at the club.

Obviously a bit of a walk, but on the plus side, at least you saved yourself the extortionate eight quid parking fee!

[ctfc-fan]

Which car park are you talking about? The main car park (run by the football club) or the Parklands car park (run by the community centre, independent of the club)? The Hazelwoods stand backs on to Whaddon Road, so it’s not at all obvious which car park you are referring to.

Ah - it's the Parklands one then, as the other one said 'permit holders only'' (and was full anyway) so I was directed to the one around the corner.

In which case that isn’t run by the club, or never used to be. It’s run by the community centre so you’d better vent your unwarranted frustrations at them.

Although I think there was talk of knocking down some houses and maybe a multi storey just for match day parking.

[Leckyfan]

Parklands are not very good at organising the parking (nor maximising their potential income).

It was always obvious that Parklands car parks would end up full today. Much of the space they have is “in the field” at the far end, but they are consistently bad at supervising/directing parking there by the early arrivers.

I got there at 1410, and they were nearly full at that point (creating a significant delay as they tried to figure out whether to let a few more cars in or not). No walky-talky (or mobile phone) communication between the staff checking availability of spaces and the person taking money on the gate. Just walking back and forth, and trying to communicate by shouting. Total amateurs.

But, worst of all, there was at least one “single row” of parking in the field (presumably from earlier, undirected arrivers) where there should have been a “double row” to maximise how many cars can park and still exit freely at the end of the game. Okay, it would only have increased capacity by about 10 or 12 cars (one row), but Parklands are shooting themselves in the foot (and losing income) by not stewarding the parking properly.

They have also lost income by refusing to sell “parking season tickets” this year. I bought one last year, when they were sold, mainly for the convenience of being able to arrive 10 minutes before kick-off, and have a guaranteed space. There were quite a few home games I was unable to attend (for various reasons) but Parklands still had my money upfront (same as the club did for my football season ticket).