PARKING METERS IN CARVOEIRO

[James Faro]

.....this will leave spaces for visitors who want to come into town and shop.

If the parking spaces are still fully used up ,whoever uses them, it will deter visitors if they have to drive around and around to look for a space and with threat of fines and/or being clamped if they park in a non-designated area.

I can well understand the that the current situation is not satisfactory but this scheme is just going to make a bad situation worse. Even in Faro, the parking spaces near the bus terminal and the harbor, have police waiting to pounce when a car's time limit expire and issue a fine. I have seen many a furious argument broken out when a ticket is issued and even an arrest being made.

[EMM]

Carvoeiro is catching up with other resorts, Lagos introduced charges last year and it does not seem to have had any effect on visitors with the locals knowing where they can park for free.

I do have a real problem with those drivers be they, Local , expat or holiday maket who park in the spaces reserved for the disabled or the pharmacies and those with oversized vehicles, be they 4x4,s and pick ups, usually of non PT registration who take up 2 spaces and stick out into the roads.

[laserblazer]

it will deter visitors if they have to drive around and around to look for a space and with threat of fines and/or being clamped if they park in a non-designated area.

That's just the point. Hopefully, because people will only be able to park for a limited period, they won't hog the spaces all day and they will be free for people wanting to shop. It's a designated parking space if it has a meter. Simples!

[James Faro]

Err...............deterring visitors who will want to stay for a few hours and spend money in the restaurants,bars and shops??? It is 'simples' if you want to affect local businesses!

However, as EMM points out designated parking spaces for disabled used by other non-disabled is wrong. Slap-on fines for them should be introduced, if not already.

[laserblazer]

James, I really don't get what you are on about? Abi g problem with parking in town is that people hog the spaces all day. Be they businessmen, residents or squatters. A lot of people just do not bother going into town to do a bit of shopping because of the dire parking. Meters will stop people leaving their cars all day and there should be a regular supply of spaces. Meters have been around since at least the 50s and the fact that we still have them around the world would indicate that they work.

As for disabled bays. I think there are three in the town. One is permanently occupied by the one legged trader on Restaurant Hill. Fair enough, he is disabled but if you look in other towns, people like him have their own allocated space. The two they had outside the CVO Sol were ok because the GNR regularly walked by and people didn't take the risk. Now it is hopeless. We just don't bother going into town except to bank and one of the reasons for choosing Barclays was the parking.

[pete-flint]

How often do you walk around town and see cars parked on the roadside, which, looking at the amount of dust/dirt on them, indicates they have not moved for months. Perhaps this "clamp" down will clear these vehicles off the streets and make a few more spaces available !

I don't think they have SORN in Portugal, or the "New" system where even if your vehicle is stored off road or SORN, it still has to be insured.

Sorry for going off on a tangent, but. it will head that way , eventually.