Last updated 16:06, Saturday, 01 March 2008

IT WAS my birthday last week and I had money to spend.

I set off to enjoy an afternoon of shopping in Workington.

I was going to buy at least some perfume, a book and a DVD or CD. I was also going to look for a gift for my sister whose birthday is only a week after mine.

I found a car parking space on The Cloffocks and, clutching my change, went up to pay: £2.50!

That’s the minimum charge. I didn’t have that much change so I got back in my car and went home, and I’ll get the stuff I want next time I am in Carlisle.

It is so sad to see shops moving out of Workington town centre. A lot of people were opposed to the development there and especially when it seemed to come at the expense of many smaller, independent businesses who were forced to close because their premises were being taken over and because they could not afford the rent and rates on the new shops being opened.

But in the end, we were getting a fantastic shopping centre in Workington.

My daughter lives in Oxford and says the shopping here is far superior, but if we are not careful that will not be the case for very long.

To be honest, if Dunmail Park had an independent book shop and a CD and DVD outlet I don’t think I would bother going into Workington at all, because at Dunmail Park I can leave my car for free and I don’t have to keep moving it.

It probably says more about me than about those involved in planning, but even if I wanted to use the new car park in the centre of Workington I couldn’t because I have tried following the signs and still couldn’t tell you where the entrance is!

Parking and parking costs are a problem. It may mean that we have become a lazy society, it may mean that we are not using public transport enough, but whatever the reason, we expect to be able to go to shops and to park.

When I was a reporter in Cockermouth I spent an awful lot of my time writing about complaints from business people, residents and visitors who were upset by what they saw as hugely restrictive parking regulations and - they would say - parking wardens who were keen to stick to the letter of the law.

Retailers told me so often that the parking restrictions were damaging their businesses and visitors were being stung by a ticket even if one car wheel was on a line or just over it, and they would leave the town vowing never to return.

When Maryport’s Senhouse Street was going to be pedestrianised the outcry from retailers was so great that, in the end, the road was restored for cars to use.

The reason for concern was that if there were no cars and there was nowhere to park, there would be no customers.

I have had my share of parking tickets recently and paid them without murmur - except for a couple of weeks ago.

I had gone to work on a Saturday afternoon and parked my car outside a chemist. As I sat at my computer I just worried that I was taking up a space outside a shop that someone would need, so I deliberately moved my car to a loading zone outside my office.

The huge hardware shop across the road, which normally used the loading bay, was closed and there had not been one single vehicle there before me.

However, I left work later just as I was getting a ticket. I protested that it was Saturday and there was no traffic around but I was told: “It’s not Sunday, love!”

I came close to what I would describe as road rage.

Why can Scotland run huge car parks at no cost to the public? Why can I go to the Lanes in Carlisle and park all day for £1 on a Sunday (it was also Sunday when I went to The Cloffocks)?

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again - once the new Tesco in Workington is built with its huge and, I presume, free car park, who will bother going into town?

I know that in Cockermouth, anyway, I was always told that car parking restrictions were needed because people working in the area would park there all day. Well, frankly, if they did, it would be their businesses that suffered, and therefore that’s their problem.

Restrictive parking may be a great revenue earner for councils but it is going to have a negative impact on our towns in the end.