Dunfermline rail station car park changes leave RM in Limbo

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Dunfermline rail station car park changes leave Royal Mail 'in limbo' over where to park post vans

http://www.dunfermlinepress.com/news/du ... ost-vans-/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

FIFE COUNCIL wants to close off Dunfermline rail station car park to goods vehicles – leaving Royal Mail “in limbo” over where to park vans at their Woodmill Street depot.

The car park is for commuters using the train station but the council has proposed a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) to remove all goods vehicles from using it.

The City of Dunfermline area committee heard last Wednesday that the car park was extended to cope with high demand but remains at capacity.

A report to councillors stated, “A large number of parking spaces within the car park are taken up by Royal Mail vehicles.

“This is due to the lack of available space within Royal Mail’s depot, whose operation has outgrown their premises.

“This results in space for rail users being taken up for business use, discourages use of sustainable travel and increases pressure on residential on-street parking in the area.

“Compounding the problem, the introduction of the Amazon warehouse in Dunfermline has resulted in the Dunfermline sorting office being the busiest in the UK.

“This has led to an increase in the number of Royal Mail vehicles parking within the car park, which is likely to continue.”

The changes will address the “many complaints” from commuters about availability and the proposal would also prevent goods vehicles from using the nearby car park at the back of St Leonard’s Church.

However, Councillor Bob Young argued that there needed to be “somewhere for these vans to go”.

Councillor Neale Hanvey added that “it’d be useful to know their contingency plans – where are they going to park?”

Councillors were also concerned that it would drive the problem elsewhere and if residents had been consulted.

Garry Haldane, Communication Workers Union (CWU) rep for Dunfermline, told the Press that Royal Mail was “in limbo” over the issue.

He said, “We had an exercise last year and found out it would cost £3million to move to a new building and £1million to do renovation work and create a bigger car park.

“We have 54 vans and even if we renovated, it wouldn’t give us enough parking space so we’re still going to have to lease land from somewhere.

“We’re looking at a three-month rolling lease from Asda for temporary parking at the back of their building but nothing’s been confirmed.

“The other option is the council car park opposite the police station, which will impact on time and money. It’s a big financial impact on us.”

Councillors agreed to promote the TRO in the meantime but asked that it come again before committee before plans are finalised and approved.

[arnold cheshire]

rail station car parks can be expensive were they parking for free ?

[Lounge Lizard]

rail station car parks can be expensive were they parking for free ?

Many railway station car parks are free.

[Captain Scarlet]

Yes we were parking free and our DO is never going to be big enough and we should have moved to another site, but let's spend £1 million knocking a part of the DO down, building inside and extending round the back ffs, still not enough room so do I get time built into my duty to walk 5 mins to Asda to pick up my van and would have to come back with shuts then park van at Asda then walk back to office no way.......imagine Chrimbo what with vans flying about trying to get loaded.
Another fine RM plan

[arnold cheshire]

rail station car parks can be expensive were they parking for free ?

Many railway station car parks are free.

not in my area they arent

[Ozzvaldo]

We pay approx £350 per van, per year to park 16 vans at a nearby railway station. I can confirm that the extra 10 minutes it takes to retrieve the vans has not been allowed for in the duty span since this situation came into being. I suppose that "the mail's dropping" is the official reason given by the management.