NEWS INTERNATIONAL NEWS
TICKET toRIDE
Whether on a city
break, a beach holiday or touring Europe, the question of transport is always high on the holiday checklist. Sarah Juggins has trawled the holiday websites to discover
what parking problems beset visitors to mainland Europe
his summer, millions of us will be taking the ferry and driving to holiday destinations across Europe. Still more will be fl ying to sunshine destinations and then hiring a car on arrival. As threads on the Lonely Planet website travellers’ forum (below) indicate, one of the major problems that motorists face is where to park when visiting foreign lands. From prohibitive city centre parking prices, hard-to-negotiate road systems, complex parking fees and tiny parking spaces, the experiences of these travellers highlight some of the issues that motorists face, and perhaps offer parking operators in the UK some insight into how parking management can best meet the needs of foreign visitors.
T
Park and ride in Florence (Italy) ‘Ten days till I leave for Italy! We’ll be staying outside Siena with a car, and are thinking of driving to Florence for a day. I hope to avoid driving in the city itself, looking for parking. Does anyone know of someplace close where I can park and either walk or hop a bus into Florence? I heard that there’s a big parking garage under the train station. I know where the train station is, and that would be perfect, but not if it’s going to be a nightmare to get there. Any suggestions?’
Parking in San Sebastian (Spain) ‘There are lots of large underground parking garages in central San Sebastián, expensive though, expect some to cost up to €20/day. Used to be free parking out at the university in Avenida de Tolosa. Buses all the time to the city center, or a 30-minute walk along the beautiful La Concha Beach promenade.’
Parking in Roussillon and Gordes (France) ‘I stayed in Roussillon for several days and parking there is a lot easier than in Gordes. First, you can actually drive through town and there are various public car parks, which you will see. My advice is not to worry about this (parking): these places are small, you can’t miss the car parks and if you pass one, you’ll fi nd out and drive around a little. Believe me, these places are full of tourists who manage to fi nd spaces.’
12 JULY 2012
Disabled badges in the UK ‘Can a disabled driver parking permit issued in Australia be used in England? Many thanks for any information, I have not been able to fi nd the answer via any websites.’
Parking ticket in Piran (Slovenia) ‘Unfortunately, got a parking ticket today while visiting Piran in Slovenia as part of our vacation. We have a rental car. Not sure what we did wrong as we parked in a car park a long walk from the town but obviously we parked in the wrong place and we didn’t pay as there were no signs. So we did wrong for sure. As the fi ne is completely in Slovenian and I don’t speak it, I am unsure. ‘The writing is quite diffi cult to read but it looks like the amount of the fi ne is €200. This seems like a lot. Do you think this could be right? I see that fi nes in Ljubljana are around €40, which I think would fi t the crime a little better. Even €80 would be acceptable as we obviously broke the regulations. ‘Would appreciate your advice as to whether I am reading the ticket correctly as we fl y out tomorrow and will return the rental car so we will be at their mercy to sort it.’
Tiny in Tuscany ‘Don’t hire anything larger than a two-seater in Italy, the parking spaces are too small to accommodate anything bigger than a Fiat 500!’
www.britishparking.co.uk
All images courtesy of
shutterstock.com
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