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12th June 2023
12:05pm BST
A man has come up with an innovative price system for allowing people to use his car park - by charging them more if they park 'like a wally.'
Few things are more annoying when you see a perfectly good parking space, which is sadly unusable because the car in the neighbouring space is straddling it.
At the same time, if you've been driving for hours all the way to the Cornish coast, you probably just want to swerve into a space without thinking in your eagerness to leave the vehicle and stretch your legs.
So, one landowner has come up with a clever system for people who want to use his car park.
Farmer Ian Flindall, who owns the car park near Portheras Cove in west Cornwall, charges motorists £3 if they park 'neat and tidy' or £10 for 'parking like a wally.'
A sign at the car park entrance makes the prices very clear, and there are even illustrations to give car owners an idea of what is meant by 'neat and tidy' and 'wally' parking.
Speaking to The Sun, Ian said: "All we are asking is that drivers park close together so that more and more people can come and enjoy the wonderful Cornish coastline."
He actually leaves it up to motorists to decide which price they should pay, with an honesty box for them to leave their cash in.
And, to his surprise, a lot of drivers are willing to cough up the 233 percent price hike just to avoid being considerate and parking properly.
“But I’m still amazed at how many £10 notes have been put in the honesty box because they can’t be bothered to park close to another car," Ian said.
"I figure they think, 'Well I've just abandoned the car, here's a tenner'."
He first implemented the system during the Covid pandemic when people couldn't go abroad so made more trips to coastal areas such as Cornwall.
Ian said: “I had the sign made during the Covid pandemic when we were seeing more and more people coming down here.
“I went to the local sign-maker and asked if he could do it and he was only too happy to oblige. I think it was the first time that he’d been asked to use the word ‘wally’ on a sign."
Paying £7 more instead of taking a bit of time to make other people's lives easier - is there anything more British?
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