Train companies ripping off motorists

Robert Powell looks at how to avoid being ripped off by overpriced car parks...

What would you pay £9.25 an hour for? A hire car maybe? Or a cleaner?

What about a six metre long slab of tarmac?

Well that’s how much you’d have to shell out if you wanted to use Britain’s most expensive car park in Knightsbridge, Central London. The minimum charge is £18.50 for two hours – that’s £3 more than people on the minimum wage get paid per hour! And if you only park there for 10 minutes, you're paying the tarmac an equivalent salary of almost £450,000 a year.

Yes, increasingly car parks are turning into nothing more than money making slabs of concrete, especially when your customer base has no choice but to park their vehicle and foot the bill.

Park and get taken for a ride!

Train station operators recently got caught red handed jacking up car park rates by twice the rate of inflation in some areas.

East Midlands, First Capital Connect, First Great Western and South-West Trains all put charges up by 8% at some stations. More than 50 stations operated by South Eastern Rail have also increased charges from £3 to £3.50 – that’s a rise of 16%.

Many of the stations implementing the price rises are in the Home Counties. This spells further misery for commuters as they’re hit with a triple whammy of petrol price increases, train fare hikes and now car parking rises.

What’s more – unlike train fares – station car park rates are not regulated, meaning the train operator that owns the station has free rein to push up rates as much as they want. It’s no surprise therefore that many have accused train operators of topping up their profits through extortionate car park charges.

Other car park rip offs

Train operators stand to profit big time from these price rises because they have a captive audience. In other words, motorists can either cough up the extra cash or leave their car at home!

But this rip off is not unique to train stations. Airports, hotels and shopping centre car parks have been exploiting customers for years with high charges and hefty penalty fines for not paying and displaying! I was shocked to find out that I’d even have to pay to park in hospital car parks if I wanted to visit a sick friend or relative.

But there are a few things you can do to cut the cost of pricey parking:

Alternative car parks

An obvious way of cutting car parking costs is just to avoid pricey car parks altogether and keep your eyes open for cheaper local alternatives. You’ll find car parks that are affiliated to train stations and airports will cost a lot more than independent ones, as most people won’t bother to shop around.

 Websites like parking4less.co.uk, yourparkingspace.co.uk, purpleparking.com and airport-parking-shop.co.uk will find cheap car parks around airports and compare prices for you.

Driveways

If you can’t find any car parks around your local train station you could always try renting a nearby driveway. Savvy homeowners now advertise their free tarmac for motorists to use on a daily or one-off, long-term basis.

Check websites like YourParkingSpace, ParkLet and ParkatmyHouse to find out if there’s a space free near your local station.

It’s also worth getting onto these sites if you have a driveway that you could rent out – prime spaces can attract a price tag of up to £300 per month! For more information on making money from renting read Rent your way to a fortune.

Public transport

If you’re heading off for a two week holiday you may find yourself paying more for the airport car park than the flights! Prices have soared to well over £200 for a fortnight of parking, so it’s definitely worth considering other options.

Most airports will now have designated bus and train services running from nearby towns and if you book tickets well in advance you could make a huge saving. National Express even runs a service from my hometown of Hereford that will take you straight to Heathrow.

But you should always shop around for the best deal when booking public transport. You can often get cheaper deals by using standard trains and buses instead of plumping for the widely advertised ‘airport express’ or ‘shuttle’ services.

Travelling to Gatwick and Heathrow from Central London are the classic examples. Both airports have widely advertised ‘express’ services that will whisk you from London to the airport in well under half an hour. But these trains will cost you an arm and leg so you’re far better off booking an advance ticket on the standard First Capital Connect service to Gatwick or if you’re flying from Heathrow, just jumping on the tube! It will take a little longer but could save you a lot of money.

It might also be cheaper to book a taxi to and from the airport than shell out for car parking; especially if your flight comes with complementary drinks!

If you do have to drive to the airport, see if you can find alternative, private parking facilities near the airport -- these can vary from huge car parks to savvy house owners with unused private parking facilities. Recommendations from friends and family are a good place to start.

Alternatively, sites like Purple Parking or airport-parking.co.uk should help you root out some of the more affordable options.

Book ahead and shop around

Whether you’re planning on using car parking or taking public transport you should always book well ahead and shop around for the best deal. For some more tips about travelling on the cheap read Cut the cost of domestic travel.

Your tips

If your local train station has recently jacked up its car parking charges or if you have any tips on avoiding rip-offs car parks, we want to hear from you!

Leave your comments in the box below.

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