Now, I'm absolutely not complaining about having to pay to park myself. Most shoppers don't park every day and the cost to do so as a proportion of your shop isn't that bad. My concern is for Centre's 2500 staff, 70% of whom take their car to work.
Shop workers are not the highest paid workers in our society. Many of them will be on the minimum wage. Yet Land Securities think it's ok to charge them £40 per month to park. In this climate, when people are really struggling with the rising cost of living, it is simply unacceptable to force such a steep rise in outgoings on low paid staff. Land Securities made a profit of over £1 billion last year. They don't need to profiteer in this way.
There are no real alternatives to parking in the Centre's car park because of the layout of this new town. Buses even to other towns in West Lothian are not as regular as they need to be and the train stations are miles away from The Centre.
If you agree with me that it's unfair to ask staff to pay such a huge proportion of their salary - equivalent to almost a day's wages a month on the minimum wage, or 2 weeks' pay over a year - then there are 3 quick things you can do:
- Join the Facebook Page I set up this morning and invite your friends to do so as well;
- Sign the Petition calling for Land Securities to withdraw the charge;
- Complain to The Centre management.
3 comments:
Ha ha do what Chris Huhne does. Get some other mug to pay ;)
Ditto Mr Laws.
Or any Lib Dem really.
Like I said before, innocent until proven guilty. Allegations are just that - there is no evidence at all at this stage to suggest any truth in this.
Only been a couple of times and, as I never learnt to drive, went by bus. The shopping centre seemed awash with them, certainly better served than other areas I've been to.
Too often people who are mentally welded to their car complain they have to do it because of poor public transport but when you press them they hardly ever try to use it and couldn't tell you the number/s of their nearest bus route.
Meanwhile, many of our bus routes here are slow to navigate as cars are parked in the roads on both sides, often in fron of houses with empty drives!
Remember a car always needs 3 spaces - the home parking space, the destination space and capacity on the road inbetween.
Seems to me it works out at only £1.33 a day anyway - I couldn't get a return on the bus for that.
Sorry, no sypathy from me - you have hit one of my pet peeves.
G
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