UKH

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/inappropriately-parked-sn...

Bumper time for the recovery companies in North wales . And people who fail to make it to the car pound by 5pm have to wait until Monday or maybe Tuesday because of bank holiday. 

Really tw*tish, a simple parking ticket would be a reasoned response.

Despite the really big sign warning of the consequences?
The problem with a fine, is that some people are prepared to take the financial hit and not removing the car still leaves it in a dangerous position.

Really tw*ttish is parking so that pedestrians have to walk in the road. Real consequences might make people think twice.

They tried that and it didn't work.  

People coming from big cities are probably used to being ripped off for parking so a  £30 parking ticket split between the car occupants is a bargain.

Maybe a £300 parking ticket. I'm happier with the idea of the worst offenders being towed away.

A warm welcome to north Wales. No investment or planning for decades and then a knee jerk reaction in a couple of weeks with no viable alternative solution to parking.

The police won’t be running ops to tow cars for ever so then what? Back to the status quo, traffic wardens dishing out £30 fines?  

About bloody time something was done about piss takers.

It needs a park and ride in Ogwen as well. That or some road widening and increased laybys 

I was there on Sunday and it was insane.

Completely full up everywhere by 9.15am. 

Thanks for the report, that's useful. It was a Bank Holiday weekend though, so it was bound to be bad. Let's hope things quieten down in September / October

Parking tickets obviously don’t work , and neither do the 30 or so signs now in place along the road in the Ogwen valley . Cars parked on the pavement are a real hazard to pedestrians who are made to walk on a very busy road . 
knee jerk reaction it maybe but people are obviously not heeding the warning .. 

Maybe reducing the speed limit or widening the pavement or creating more parking may be an option. 
 

People have parked on the pavement, roads for over 20yrs there but nothing was ever done and very rarely did the council get involved with ticketing. 

Come on this has been an issue for 50 years.

Maybe if you aren't friends with Bryn Williams you cant see this photo but this is from the 70's. Lines of cars up to the pass, since then car ownership has increased massively yet parking in Snowdonia hasn't really.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10157458542373015&set=a.46360919801...

There has to be a better solution. Paving 10-20 spots at P y G isn't the answer.

I'm not condoning willfully breaking the law but there needs to be a more proactive approach (which would add a lot to the local economy..)

People may have been parking on the pavement for years , but not in the numbers they are today . I live in North Wales and parking is now a major issue in all the hotspots. I’m not sure what the solution is , it’s not only day parking it’s overnight parking where lay-bys are full even before day trippers start to arrive . It’s not only the responsibility of the local authorities it’s the the responsibility of the visitors too . There’s been far to much anti social behaviour/ parking this year . 

Great news that this is being done. I've never had to park badly in all the decades I've climbed scrambled or walked in the area. There is always somewhere a bit further but safe and quiet places with no issue. Too many drive in, park dangerously, have a great day, leaving chaos on the road and pavement then drive home. Often with no thought of spending to help the local economy either.

There does need to be better transport planning but there is no excuse for dangerous parking (which should signposted and policed as a road traffic offence).

The Snowdonia Green Key scheme was supposed to deal with all this 15yrs ago; decent public transport and park and ride (at Bethesda, and the unused factory site near Siemens in Llanberis) . Massive opposition from local traders lead to the Welsh Assembly dropping the idea. Maybe it's time has come.

I agree that local government is opposed to any change in North wales . However this needs to happen and swiftly in my opinion . A few years ago the push was on to bring tourists in to the area without any thought to the infrastructure / parking /overcrowding etc . Now there needs to be some dialogue between the authorities to instigate policy for change . And this needs to happen very soon . North wales is in a dire state regarding parking and tourism . 
 

edit . This is only my opinion! 

I live in north Wales too and parking is an issue in some areas although not as bad as the press may lead us to believe. Is the solution really a big stick to stop people visiting? Especially so when as documented above it’s been a problem for decades.

Tourism is a huge industry for the region with potentially many benefactors but instead of creating solutions to help promote the area and WG (who deal with trunk roads such as the A5 in Ogwen) and Gwynedd/Conwy in other areas have done the grand sum of nothing during these decades. When tourism revenues eventually declines due to being unable to find parking to easily visit these areas and people travel to other areas in the UK what will happen then?
 

Travelling by car is basically the only reliable and economic way to travel throughout the region that we arguably advertise as the adventure capital of the UK. 

I agree travel at the moment is only viable by car . But North wales needs to wake up . Tourism is not a long term solution to the problems we face re parking and overnight camping . We need to invest in solutions not problems . Industry and investment. 

Given there's loads of land I'm sure they could widen the roads a bit and make enough parking.

I suppose it depends how much of a carpark you want. It seems like an acre/ football field type area will accommodate 350 cars (not campervans)

"That or some road widening and increased laybys "

Get real - it needs the opposite of this. Close the road to all but locals at the weekend and have PnR for the visitors.  Fewer cars please.

You can't close those roads, especially not the A5. Illegal parking is the problem and towing cars a good solution. Tell me a busy day where you couldn't park further away and just walk in the longer distance... In fact given the chaos at PYP and Ogwen Cottage on very busy days, parking further away reduces chances of getting caught in the log jam where illegal parking reduces a main road to a single road with passing places, with the stress of viewing impatient idiots not even letting an ambulance through.

Your suggestion is not legal! Public roads can be driven along by drivers in vehicles with a current VED. Traffic can only be controlled via parking I think, in which case your 'locals only' control could work.

A lot of people would initially be put off; really first class facilities (P&R, bus services, sherpa services etc) will be necessary to keep people coming. Another option would be some sort of congestion charging zone - though that would piss off the locals I'm sure.

Depends if you want tourists or you prefer them to go elsewhere

Exactly that isn’t much land at all. Nearby they can find land for the Porthmadog bypass, the removal of two roundabouts on the A55 and implementation of flyovers and slip roads, a new bridge over the Menai straights and the construction of the Caernarfon bypass. All these areas are ecologically diverse and require huge areas of land. Imagine if Telford or the romans had been knocked back over a bit of a challenge, we’d be in the dark ages still!  

The best solution to Pen y Pass is a pre-booking requirement, the fact that there's already tons of parking in Llanberis and a shuttle bus rather than cutting more laybys into the mountain.  Plus enforcement - if you didn't want to paint unsightly double yellows it could be made a signed Clearway if it isn't already.

For Ogwen Cottage it'd be much easier to extend the laybys in places.  One option would be to purchase the land opposite for more parking.