Hebden Bridge Station car parking

[TUC]

There are various discussions on social media which seem to suggest when parking at Hebden Bridge station you now need to go to the ticket office and produce a valid ticket in order to get a voucher to display when parking. However, neither the National Rail https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/HBD/details.html , nor the Northern webpages https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/stations/hebden-bridge for the station appear to have any references to this.

Does anyone know what the arrangements are and where they are set out online?

 

[30907]

I can confirm that car parking is restricted to rail users only and has been for some years.

I last used it during Covid restrictions, and there was certainly a requirement to have a rail ticket, but I don't recall a voucher being issued then.

The same rule applied at Accrington from when the new car park was opened at least 10 years ago, and at that time you simply informed the booking clerk of your reg number.

In neither case is the exact procedure spelt out online.

 

[Joe Paxton]

There are various discussions on social media which seem to suggest when parking at Hebden Bridge station you now need to go to the ticket office and produce a valid ticket in order to get a voucher to display when parking. However, neither the National Rail https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/HBD/details.html , nor the Northern webpages https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/stations/hebden-bridge for the station appear to have any references to this.

Does anyone know what the arrangements are and where they are set out online?

This rather assumes they are actually set out online anywhere!

 

[TUC]

I can confirm that car parking is restricted to rail users only and has been for some years.

I last used it during Covid restrictions, and there was certainly a requirement to have a rail ticket, but I don't recall a voucher being issued then.

The same rule applied at Accrington from when the new car park was opened at least 10 years ago, and at that time you simply informed the booking clerk of your reg number.

In neither case is the exact procedure spelt out online.

I have no problem with station use being limited to rail users. However, if the arrangements are similar to what you describe at Accrington it does raise the scenario of a ticket office queue being clogged up with people who have mobile tickets, season tickets etc, but still find themselves in a queue just to give a registration number. That would seem very time wasting all round.

This rather assumes they are actually set out online anywhere!

Information of this nature do tend to be the kind of purpose that customer facing websites exist for. Whether Northern have managed to do this simple task might be a different question...

 

[D6130]

So what are people supposed to do once the ticket office has been closed....which is the DfT'slong-term aim, I believe? Or, for that matter, what are people supposed to do at present when parking up outside of the ticket office opening hours?

 

[TUC]

The discussion on the Hebden Bridge Facebook page this weekend highlights the confusion:

'How do I get a ticket for my car in the station carpark tomorrow? I know that’s the new rule. I’ll be parking there in the morning to get my train.'

'Collect from the ticket office if after 6.40am, no need to have a car park ticket if your train is before then. If there’s a queue at the ticket office and you already have a train ticket then Paul who checks tickets before entry onto the platform has a supply of car park tickets too to speed things up'


This will result in people having to queue and go back and forth to the car park even when they already have a rail ticket.

 

[Flying Phil]

There are often a lot of cars parked all along the main road into Hebden close to the station!

 

[childwallblues]

I can confirm that car parking is restricted to rail users only and has been for some years.

I last used it during Covid restrictions, and there was certainly a requirement to have a rail ticket, but I don't recall a voucher being issued then.

The same rule applied at Accrington from when the new car park was opened at least 10 years ago, and at that time you simply informed the booking clerk of your reg number.

In neither case is the exact procedure spelt out online.

Same rule applies at St Helens Central were you get a ticket to display in your car.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The old solutions were often better. They enforced it at Bradford Forster Square by making you pay for a parking ticket. The machine printed a parking ticket and voucher which you could exchange at the ticket office as part-payment for a rail ticket, or for cash if you already held a ticket. So much simpler.

Of course it works less well if all the ticket offices get closed…

 

[Whisky Papa]

The same rule is being applied at Todmorden, according to a poster I saw there recently.

While these two car parks have long had notices saying they were intended for rail users only, there was little attempt at enforcement, except in the most flagrant abuses. In fact, during my many Sunday shifts at Todmorden, I would occasionally get non-rail users coming to the ticket office to pay for car parking, and I had to assure them that a) I had no facilities to issue them such a ticket, and b) this would not matter. The car park there was perfectly adequate on Sundays for rail users and others, although the same was probably much less true at Hebden Bridge.

 

[30907]

The old solutions were often better. They enforced it at Bradford Forster Square by making you pay for a parking ticket. The machine printed a parking ticket and voucher which you could exchange at the ticket office as part-payment for a rail ticket, or for cash if you already held a ticket. So much simpler.

Still required you to, though - just less walking (to and from the CP machine instead of the ticket office)

There are no pay-and-display machines at the likes of Hebden Bridge anyway.

 

[TUC]

One solution, at least for those with online tickets purchased through the Northern app, could be to include a link for a parking voucher to be printed out.

 

[SteveM70]

There are often a lot of cars parked all along the main road into Hebden close to the station!

Calderdale’s longer term traffic “strategy” includes double yellow lines all the way from Hebden to Royd. As and when that happens it’ll be carnage, as a lot of the cars that park on the main road belong to the people working in Hebden’s shops.

 

[TUC]

Update on social media today:
'Train Station - Car Parking ticket system SUSPENDED

'Station parking ticket system suspended. People parking at the station will no longer be required to get a ticket from the booking office to say they are rail users, and then return to their vehicle to display the ticket".

This implies that this suspension is with immediate effect.'

 

[D6130]

Update on social media today:
'Train Station - Car Parking ticket system SUSPENDED

'Station parking ticket system suspended. People parking at the station will no longer be required to get a ticket from the booking office to say they are rail users, and then return to their vehicle to display the ticket".

This implies that this suspension is with immediate effect.'

I wonder whether this is connected to the recent extension of the car park, which was achieved by consolidating the coal merchant's yard into the far corner of the former goods yard?

 

[nr758123]

Whilst the roads around Hebden Bridge station are invariably clogged with parked cars, when I passed through yesterday the newly extended car park at Mytholmroyd was two thirds empty. Possibly the additional car parking at Mytholmroyd will only help relieve parking problems in Hebden Bridge if Mytholmroyd can gain a more frequent service.

 

[Flying Claret]

I have no problem with station use being limited to rail users. However, if the arrangements are similar to what you describe at Accrington it does raise the scenario of a ticket office queue being clogged up with people who have mobile tickets, season tickets etc, but still find themselves in a queue just to give a registration number. That would seem very time wasting all round.


Information of this nature do tend to be the kind of purpose that customer facing websites exist for. Whether Northern have managed to do this simple task might be a different question...

At Accy Station there's a notepad which you fill in yourself, registration number, date and interestingly it asks if you are a rail user or not...

 

[js517]

Whilst the roads around Hebden Bridge station are invariably clogged with parked cars, when I passed through yesterday the newly extended car park at Mytholmroyd was two thirds empty. Possibly the additional car parking at Mytholmroyd will only help relieve parking problems in Hebden Bridge if Mytholmroyd can gain a more frequent service.

They built a massive new car park at Mytholmroyd around the same time it's services were cut back. Perhaps Mytholmroyd should get more trains calling to attract people to park there instead of Hebden.
I am biased though as it's my local station.