A landowner has revealed how he charges people more to park 'like a wally' on his land, and they actually pay up.
Parking can be frustrating at the best of times. You've already driven a long way, and then at journey's end you're faced with the supremely irritating prospect of having to hunt down a space before you can finally switch off the engine and relax.
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If it's been a particularly long journey you may just want to get it over with so you can move on. At least that's what could be the reasoning behind many motorists visiting a Cornish beauty spot.
The owner of the land located close to Portheras Cove, in west Cornwall, has revealed an unusual rule that he has for visitors who park there - you can either pay £3 to park 'neat and tight', or you can pay £10 to park 'like a wally'.
Amazingly, people actually do choose to pay the extra £7 so they can avoid having to spend time parking properly.
A sign on the car park even includes helpful illustrations to give motorists an idea of what 'neat and tidy' and 'like a wally' mean. Personally I'd rather save the £7 for a nice ice cream or two and park neatly, but it seems I might be in the minority.
Farmer Ian Flindall owns the car park and has shared the reasoning behind the sign which had originally intended to be a deterrent.
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He told The Sun: "All we are asking is that drivers park close together so that more and more people can come and enjoy the wonderful Cornish coastline."
However, it seems that the prospect of an extra £7 is not enough to put off some drivers.
“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'."
The sign went up during the pandemic when travel bans saw more people looking to take holidays within the UK to avoid some of the potential complications of having to negotiate coronavirus restrictions across borders.
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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."
It's a far cry from Ian's mother-in-law Dorothy Jasper, who would ask people to pop sixpence in an honesty box to park there. The parking charge is still an honesty box, but it has gone up since then.
It's frankly baffling that people would pay so much more just to avoid being considerate to other visitors.
Kit Roberts