A LONG-TIME Nowra resident, annoyed at receiving parking fines, has said she won’t shop in the Nowra CBD during the week.
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Margaret Espley has been fined twice in recent months and has called for paid parking to be established in the car parks of supermarkets such as Coles and Woolworths.
“We need to get a ticketing system like other shopping centres and pay for parking,” she said.
“You get to have your two hours free parking and after that you pay for the time you are there.
“That would be far better than receiving $100 or $125 parking fines.”
Mrs Espley said some of the parking signs in Nowra were misleading.
She was fined in Berry Street for parking outside the former Better Electrical store next to the Shoalhaven City Arts Centre.
“I parked half across the drop driveway into the business,” she said.
“Admittedly I probably shouldn’t have parked across the driveway, but the business isn’t being used, hasn’t been for years. There is a big padlocked fence stopping any access and the parking signs show green arrows both ways stating one hour parking,” she said.
“It doesn’t say ‘No Parking’.”
She said she spoke to council officers over the matter and they said they would look into the signs.
“Sure they will – it’s readymade revenue, why would they change things?” she said.
“There are a lot of elderly people in the area who are not that mobile and it takes a long time for them to get around and do their jobs.
“Nowra is a big place now, one hour parking is inadequate.
“I have lived in Nowra for 45 years yet I won’t go into Nowra to shop during the week – now I wait until the weekends when they [the parking officers] aren’t working.
“They want to stop escape spending to places like Warrawong and Shellharbour, where you can park for as long as you want for free; they need to make Nowra more parking friendly.”