It seems that recently the company that controls parking tried to complicate things even further. Many feel that it does what appears to be its best to outdo the opposite to Robin Hood in the stakes to remove from the poor and give to the… Well, you know the deal.
We were humbly doing our utmost to park and follow the rules by paying our dues in the centre of town, when we were pounced upon by one of the uniform-clad parking attendants, as we approached the machine. Now, I haven’t got a degree in Engineering, but it seems that you virtually require one, in order to follow the some 25 new steps with any level of accuracy. And the objective? Well, as queues proceeded to form and other punters hopelessly endeavoured to imitate the attendant’s instructions, it was clear that this was just another revenue raising scheme.
You see, in order to avoid parkers generously sharing the proceeds of their unexpired tickets, we were required to include the details of our number plates. Now, I’m no particular car enthusiast, so as soon as I’d managed to get very close to the front of the queue, I had to return to my vehicle in order to memorise the plates (great; another 10 minutes wasted!).
Next, as the people behind me became increasingly more riled, it was obvious that the person at the machine was going to get equally flustered, trying to recall the several button combinations, which probably mostly depended on the biorhythms of the universe to ensure some degree of success!
Needless to say, this type of scenario was happening all over Almuñécar, with great delays, heated drivers and parking attendants who were looking even more vulnerable than ever!
When I went to speak to the office which manages the blue zones throughout the town, their representative Irene (the most friendly of the attendants – and don’t forget folks – that these poor individuals are just doing their job!) reassured me that the company has in fact abandoned the new system. Alleluia!
So, never fear, Readers! It’s back to just inserting the coins for the desired period of time, pressing the top green button and taking the ticket to display it inside your windscreen. Simple!
While I was at the office, I also took the opportunity to confirm that until Semana Santa (13th – 20th April) the normal parking rules apply (no tickets necessary on the beachfront, but you will only need tickets until then for the central shopping areas of the town, Monday-Saturday 9am-2pm).
(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)