Letter: Parking charges are turning Lymington into a ghost town

SIR – I have just parked on Lymington High Street. It was 3.15pm on a Monday, and the town was empty of people and plenty of spaces to park.

This was most unusual for a Monday afternoon but what shocked me the most was the amount of cars that had yellow penalty notices stuck on their windscreens – I saw eight in the small stretch of the High Street that I walked along.

Apparently, the ticket warden had been seen running along the road to catch her next culprit!

Congratulations, Hampshire County Council – for turning our wonderful High Street into a ghost town.

Pensioners are finding it difficult to get a ticket due to your cashless machines and they also do not have a suitable phone to get the RingGo app.

Plus the 20-minute free time slot, even with the extra 10 minutes' grace period, is not enough for parking, getting a ticket, walking back to their car and doing their shopping.

So, council – did you really, really think hard about the impact charging for parking would have on our already struggling shops and our community?

And if you have to continue this disastrous idea, could you at least make it at least 30 minutes for free parking and not give people a ticket until the free-time parking is up?

Even better, could you at least say it has been a terrible mistake charging for parking and turn the machines into electric points for people to charge their cars.

Come on, council, do something for the community. We need you to help us, please!

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