- Encourage lockdowns’ online shoppers back to the high street
to save our shops
- Concern that parking ticket machines are the ‘Achilles heel’
of social distancing
Consumers whose shopping has now become entrenched online because
of covid lockdown restrictions may need an incentive to encourage
them back to Christmas high streets, local stores and shopping
centres – safely. Lifting parking charges from the middle of
December onwards could give a boost to the high street, says the
AA.
It is calling for free Christmas parking from Monday 14 December
to help revive the festive fortunes of beleaguered shops and
street traders.
The AA also notes that, despite the strenuous efforts of shops
and stores to socially-distance their customers, these
precautions can often fall down as shoppers cluster around ticket
machines to pay for their parking.
Councils may ask shoppers to pay for their parking via mobile
phone apps but many are put off by the extra charges and older
generations find them harder to use (a 2017 survey found that 70%
of AA members were more likely to drive past than use a
pay-by-phone parking space*). That may play against a return to
the shops.
“Various parts of the country have #ShopLocal campaigns** as they
are petrified that niche local stores will be put out of business
by on-line retail and lockdowns. Free parking periods at
Christmas have been used in the past by councils and shopping
centres to tempt customers into the high streets and shopping
centres. The AA believes that, now more than ever, the hours and
free parking locations should be extended,” says Edmund King, the
AA’s president.
“With fewer shoppers and some avoiding public transport, opening
up free parking would also allow better social-distancing instead
of ticket machines becoming the ‘Achilles heel’ of attempts by
stores, councils, and shopping centre managers to space out and
protect visitors.
“This has been made worse by ticket machines becoming more
complicated by requiring vehicle registration numbers as well as
credit card details. Also, queuing is often a problem as ticket
machines are often located where shoppers are squeezed at car
park entrances or close to toilets.
“Just as Dickens described in A Christmas Carol, the
grim city streets transformed by the Christmas spirit spreading
cheer everywhere, let us hope free parking can banish the Scrooge
mentality and spread joy to the shopkeepers.”
ends
NOTES TO EDITORS
* https://www.theaa.com/about-us/newsroom/paying-for-parking-by-phone
** https://www.hertsad.co.uk/news/adopt-a-shop-initiative-launched-1-6923791
