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Luton Airport Parkway parking charges

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AnkleBoots

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Luton Airport Parkway has a daily parking charge of £8.15.
I believe this is done on an electronic pay and display basis.

Does anyone know if the parking day ends at midnight and what happens if you overstay?
 
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John Webb

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I recently used the multi-storey carpark at St Albans City station which has gone over to an ANPR/pay in advance system; ticket said it was valid until 3am, I recall. I assume this ties in with a day return being valid past midnight. But I can't be certain this applies at Luton Parkway - although I'd be surprised if there was a difference.
 
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AnkleBoots

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John Webb said:
I recently used the multi-storey carpark at St Albans City station which has gone over to an ANPR/pay in advance system; ticket said it was valid until 3am, I recall. I assume this ties in with a day return being valid past midnight. But I can't be certain this applies at Luton Parkway - although I'd be surprised if there was a difference.
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Thank you. I've checked out the website for both stations and they seem to be run in the same way.

Clicking on Buy Now and entering times, shows prices which tip over to a whole extra day if you exit at 00:30; but it would be good if there was leeway until 3am.

If there was no leeway, would it be an automatic ANPR-triggered penalty of £100 or something, if exiting at 00:01?
 
asylumxl

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Unfortunately, the day ends at midnight in the TL car parks as far as I know.

Do you specifically need to park at Parkway? Luton station is £5.60 for an entire day and a few mins away by bus or train.
 
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Bletchleyite

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Interestingly, the RingGo app says that Chiltern car park days end at 2359, but there are clear notices in the actual car parks saying it's actually 0430 (or thereabouts).
 
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AnkleBoots

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asylumxl said:
Unfortunately, the day ends at midnight in the TL car parks as far as I know.

Do you specifically need to park at Parkway? Luton station is £5.60 for an entire day and a few mins away by bus or train.
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Thank you - Parkway is better but Luton could also work.

I am still curious about the penalty for going over midnight, and whether you can take any steps to avoid the penalty before exiting.
 
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swt_passenger

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Bletchleyite said:
Interestingly, the RingGo app says that Chiltern car park days end at 2359, but there are clear notices in the actual car parks saying it's actually 0430 (or thereabouts).
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I had an email discussion with SWT a few years back about this anomaly, their RINGO setup also treats 2359 as the day’s end. Their reply was basically that it was ok because no one was out checking car park tickets at that time of night anyway, and there was no point in changing anything.
 
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Bletchleyite

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swt_passenger said:
I had an email discussion with SWT a few years back about this anomaly, their RINGO setup also treats 2359 as the day’s end. Their reply was basically that it was ok because no one was out checking car park tickets at that time of night anyway, and there was no point in changing anything.
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I suspect RingGo doesn't support days being anything other than 0000-2359 so they can't change it.

That said, one thing it *might* support is a parking ticket being valid for 24 hours rather than a calendar day, which probably would work.

If anyone is switching to proper ANPR enforcement, they'll have to change it in some way.
 
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NickBucks

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Parked at Luton Airport Parkway last Monday as I was off to Geneva. I still have the ticket for one day's parking (£8.15). Expiry date clearly shows as 4.00 am Tuesday morning. Hope this helps. P.S. Even with the shuttle bus fare it still works out cheaper than parking at the airport! Hope this helps
 
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NickBucks said:
Parked at Luton Airport Parkway last Monday as I was off to Geneva. I still have the ticket for one day's parking (£8.15). Expiry date clearly shows as 4.00 am Tuesday morning. Hope this helps. P.S. Even with the shuttle bus fare it still works out cheaper than parking at the airport! Hope this helps
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Airport long stay is cheaper if you book well in advance, but usually significantly more hassle than airport Parkway. When the shuttle opens in 2 years, they will have to put Parkway parking prices up, as it will just become an airport car park.
 
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Brush 4

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What a disincentive to usage. I think the first Parkway at Bristol in 1971 was free, although I can't be sure. Same with Park and Rides, they are supposed to attract people out of their cars. Not if you have to pay, might as well drive in to the town and park there, possibly free in some streets. I parked in Stoke Gifford free to avoid the Parkway charges once. probably not possible now.
 
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Bletchleyite

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Brush 4 said:
What a disincentive to usage. I think the first Parkway at Bristol in 1971 was free, although I can't be sure. Same with Park and Rides, they are supposed to attract people out of their cars. Not if you have to pay, might as well drive in to the town and park there, possibly free in some streets. I parked in Stoke Gifford free to avoid the Parkway charges once. probably not possible now.
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If it was free, it would be full of airport parkers.
 
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joncombe

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If it was free, it would be full of airport parkers.
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Most rail stations state they are for Rail Users only.

Would it be that hard to validate parking payment in some way to ensure the car park is actually being used by rail users? For example, only selling parking tickets when a valid ticket is held, or at the same time as a rail ticket was purchased. This could be extended to ensure the validity of the parking ticket did not exceed that of the train ticket held. For example, only selling a day ticket for the car park when a day rail ticket is held and only selling multi-day tickets when sold with a suitable multi-day ticket or when a season ticket is held?

Not everyone lives in walking distance to a station or has public transport that can get them there (or at the times they need to catch the train) so I do agree this is a huge disincentive.

I have seen it at some stations before (Fareham?) where you are initially charged a higher price and the parking ticket is issued in two parts, one to display in the car. The other part you take to the ticket office who refund it on purchase or presentation of a valid rail ticket. I don't know if this system is still used, but it is not that different to supermarkets that charge for parking and then refund it at the till if you have bought something.
 
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joncombe said:
Would it be that hard to validate parking payment in some way to ensure the car park is actually being used by rail users? For example, only selling parking tickets when a valid ticket is held, or at the same time as a rail ticket was purchased. This could be extended to ensure the validity of the parking ticket did not exceed that of the train ticket held. For example, only selling a day ticket for the car park when a day rail ticket is held and only selling multi-day tickets when sold with a suitable multi-day ticket or when a season ticket is held?
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It'd still be cheaper than the airport car park if you had to buy a single to Luton for each day of parking, or even a weekly season.
 
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Bald Rick

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Brush 4 said:
What a disincentive to usage. I think the first Parkway at Bristol in 1971 was free, although I can't be sure. Same with Park and Rides, they are supposed to attract people out of their cars. Not if you have to pay, might as well drive in to the town and park there, possibly free in some streets. I parked in Stoke Gifford free to avoid the Parkway charges once. probably not possible now.
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joncombe said:
Most rail stations state they are for Rail Users only.

Would it be that hard to validate parking payment in some way to ensure the car park is actually being used by rail users? For example, only selling parking tickets when a valid ticket is held, or at the same time as a rail ticket was purchased. This could be extended to ensure the validity of the parking ticket did not exceed that of the train ticket held. For example, only selling a day ticket for the car park when a day rail ticket is held and only selling multi-day tickets when sold with a suitable multi-day ticket or when a season ticket is held?

Not everyone lives in walking distance to a station or has public transport that can get them there (or at the times they need to catch the train) so I do agree this is a huge disincentive.

I have seen it at some stations before (Fareham?) where you are initially charged a higher price and the parking ticket is issued in two parts, one to display in the car. The other part you take to the ticket office who refund it on purchase or presentation of a valid rail ticket. I don't know if this system is still used, but it is not that different to supermarkets that charge for parking and then refund it at the till if you have bought something.
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The car park is pretty full though. As others have said, it’s roughly the same price at St Albans, 1500 spaces across three car parks, usually 80-90% full on weekdays.
 
Mutant Lemming

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swt_passenger said:
Try Reading for a real shock. You could pay £24 if rocking up for a long day in London...
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You only have to go a mile up the road to the airport - £8 for the short stay car park for up to 30 mins - exceed 30 mins and it's £14 up to an hour..gawd knows what scales apply after that. £3 to drop people off - exceed 10 mins on drop off zone and it's £25, leave your vehicle unattended for the time it takes to whizz in a tow truck and it gets towed.....

and yet. ...the short stay car park is always rammed and you end up having to park on the roof. It must be one of the most expensive car parks in the country
 
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swt_passenger

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joncombe said:
I have seen it at some stations before (Fareham?) where you are initially charged a higher price and the parking ticket is issued in two parts, one to display in the car. The other part you take to the ticket office who refund it on purchase or presentation of a valid rail ticket. I don't know if this system is still used, but it is not that different to supermarkets that charge for parking and then refund it at the till if you have bought something.
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Yes it was fairly common with SWT paper ticket machines but IIRC the split paper tickets stopped shortly after RINGO became available, presumably because the latter didn’t cope with it.
 
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