Moriarty wrote:
Greed is an interesting word which often arises in these conversations.
While greed is often thought of as a grasping or acquisitive behavior it's also a feature of possessive behavior....the balance between grasping parking charges and tight-arsed motorists as it were.
Interesting to note that the parking charges in this case are levied via the local council. Quite often hill parking charges are councils, or local organisations which are channelling the funds towards erosion control, path networks etc.
I also note that Highland Council can't even afford to keep public loos open right now.
Personally when I see these conversations I see the greed of individuals lavishing time, money and resources on their own self-gratification who squawk loudly at relatively (in comparison to fuel/car/accommodation/gear costs) minor money being extracted from them for often relatively worthy causes.
....or greed as the previous poster observed.
Amusing choice of words. I guess it's only folk you disagree with that sqawk loudly.
I personally don't mind paying councils for parking but in the same way I pay for flower gardens, fancy pavements or firework displays which don't really interest me. Walking or hiking is a pastime to be encouraged, in a country which in general has an unhealthy lifestyle, and in the highlands where the public transport system is poor a car is sometimes the only practical option.
I appreciate that some people from areas where outrageous parking charges are commonplace see it as tightfisted or maybe even greedy to moan about a few quid for parking in the highlands. A point often put forward is why should you get something for nothing, and I think that often comes from folk who would not do anything or give anything for nothing.
I find that sometimes it is just a mindset and people born and brought up in different areas have very different views.
On the original point I guess that highland council think that £4 for 4 hours is the most they can get away with at Chanonry point - for now.
Snowdon at Pen-y-pass when I was last there charged £5 for four hours which made it pretty tight to get up and down the hill. They charged £10 for a full day. Now it costs you £10 minimum (even for a short stay) and if you also wished to park there over night it would cost you an extra £10. As already pointed out this may seem a relatively small amount to some people when you factor in the cost of clothes, fuel, a car etc. etc. but for some it will be enough for them to wonder if they can really afford it and discourage them from going out at all or at the very least curtailing the amount of times they visit the great out doors.
I think that because we all pay for the fireworks and many other things through local taxes and income taxes we should also pay for car parks that encourage a healthy lifestyle in the same way whether we use them or not.
