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Having fun with Westminster again..

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natefz6
Brolly Dolly



Joined: 06 Apr 2005
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PostPosted: 19:30 - 14 Sep 2017    Post subject: Having fun with Westminster again.. Reply with quote
As I am sure many others do I work in Westminster and park my bike in the bike parks on the street. As I am in most days it makes sense to pay the £100 tax a reduce the faf of having to find somewhere else to park or get the permits daily/weekly/monthly.

On going back to my bike the other Monday I found a new Westminster decal adorning my wing mirror. Now I am normally pretty good with these things and add them to my diary but after a IT/o365 mess up and a lost phone my calendar is currently not in as good shape as it should be. Also it seems Westminster did not send me the TXT reminder to tell me that my permit was expiring. If you use the system you will know these text are kinda shit anyway as they arrive at 23:49 the evening before the permit runs out. I often don't really look at my phone till I get in the office and its on DND at ten to midnight.

I sent off an appeal through the website and Westminster have cancelled the ticket (always appeal) but in the reply they say that for all bar daily permits they send a reminder email too. I have been using yearly permits since the charge came in 9 years ago and I have never had a reminder. I have been through all the account settings on their website and can find nothing, sms yes but I only seem to get them from Westminster 50% of the time.

So Cool story bro and all that but...

If you buy permits from Westminster have you ever had an email reminder that it was due to expire?

The cynic in my thinks that they deliberately forget to send batches of TXT reminders to help with the Christmas party fund...
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sickpup
Old Timer



Joined: 21 Apr 2004
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PostPosted: 20:32 - 14 Sep 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote
Where in Westminster do you park?
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natefz6
Brolly Dolly



Joined: 06 Apr 2005
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PostPosted: 20:44 - 14 Sep 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote
sickpup wrote:
Where in Westminster do you park?


Soho mainly Golden Sq/Warwick street depending on what time road works are currently messing things up Smile
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sickpup
Old Timer



Joined: 21 Apr 2004
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PostPosted: 22:48 - 14 Sep 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote
Park the other side of Tottenham Court Road/Charing Cross Road, its Camden, free and has ground anchors.
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evilzed
Scooby Slapper



Joined: 05 Oct 2013
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PostPosted: 08:25 - 15 Sep 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote
I've used the app for few months now, changing from weekly to monthly payments and never got a reminder text or email either.
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natefz6
Brolly Dolly



Joined: 06 Apr 2005
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PostPosted: 08:55 - 15 Sep 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote
sickpup wrote:
Park the other side of Tottenham Court Road/Charing Cross Road, its Camden, free and has ground anchors.


Could do but... 15 min walk each way =30mins a day x 5days x 47weeks. 117 hours in a year of walking in bike gear getting sweaty. I would happily pay £100 to avoid that Smile in my normal space I can see my bike out of my office window.

You would think with the £10 million of excess that the bike parking charge has generated in Westminster they would be spending it on improving bike parking. All they seem to do is move the same amount of spaces around. On Warwick street for example they have moved the bays about 4 times in the past 5 years. The total amount of space has pretty much stayed consistent.

evilzed wrote:
I've used the app for few months now, changing from weekly to monthly payments and never got a reminder text or email either.


Good. I suspected they were feeding me BS. I pinged them off an email highlighting that they were giving me incorrect information but it would be good to have some more ammo if they come back and say "it's just you guv"
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sickpup
Old Timer



Joined: 21 Apr 2004
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PostPosted: 09:20 - 15 Sep 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote
natefz6 wrote:
Could do but... 15 min walk each way =30mins a day x 5days x 47weeks. 117 hours in a year of walking in bike gear getting sweaty. I would happily pay £100 to avoid that Smile in my normal space I can see my bike out of my office window.


St Giles passage is barely 10 minutes walk from Golden sq and has ground anchors. Walk faster and its less.

You can't be watching your bike every minute of the day, I personally would prefer my bike secured to a ground anchor by a large chain.
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Orennayar
Scooby Slapper



Joined: 08 Apr 2014
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PostPosted: 19:29 - 15 Sep 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote
I've been parking everyday in westminster for the past 3 years and never got an email reminder.
They seem to have fucked up their system recently switching from rinGo to parkright or whatever they call it. I didn't receive the usual 23.59 text message last time either and got fined too (I appealed it and managed to get it cancelled like you). Thumbs Down
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natefz6
Brolly Dolly



Joined: 06 Apr 2005
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PostPosted: 19:35 - 16 Sep 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote
Orennayar wrote:
I've been parking everyday in westminster for the past 3 years and never got an email reminder.
They seem to have fucked up their system recently switching from rinGo to parkright or whatever they call it. I didn't receive the usual 23.59 text message last time either and got fined too (I appealed it and managed to get it cancelled like you). Thumbs Down


Interesting, I am guessing its pretty common. Might be worth a FOI request about how many tickets per month issued and then when the supplier changed to look to see if there is a correlation. I wonder how many bikers don't bother to appeal I always appeal If I recall correctly I think I am now 6:1 up against Westminster parking fines.
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woo
World Chat Champion



Joined: 14 Feb 2005
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PostPosted: 14:12 - 17 Sep 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote
but aint it your own responsibility to be aware of these things?

i dont trust most organisations as one way or another they will take any advantage to take your money
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natefz6
Brolly Dolly



Joined: 06 Apr 2005
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PostPosted: 08:35 - 19 Sep 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote
woo wrote:
but aint it your own responsibility to be aware of these things?

i dont trust most organisations as one way or another they will take any advantage to take your money


Yes it is, but they also are suppose to send you a reminder which is their responsibility. If they offer a service there is an expectation that it should work. I now have it in writing that they should be sending out email reminders which judging by the evidence I have they don't.

I agree about the trust thing and will be making some fail safe reminders for next year.
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Old Thread Alert!

The last post was made 8 years, 107 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful?
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