Sir, Further to the report on the parking issues around the health centre in Bicester, I had the opportunity to see this for myself.


It is interesting to note the parking firm UKPS claims: “The signs are perfectly within the legal size and they have been passed by codes of practice with the British Parking Association.” This is very true – the signs are very clear that a private company is controlling the area but what is not clear is the fact people will be fined for parking in the wrong car park for the health amenity they wish to attend.


None of the official signs give any clue you may be fined for parking in any of the apparently obvious parking bays to attend your appointment, if that bay is in one of the other health areas. This has obviously been recognised by the health centre as it has had to tack another bit on the bottom of signs warning people of this fact.


What difference would it make if you had an appointment in any of the health amenities and parked in any of the marked bays? Can you imagine arriving for your appointment and finding all the bays in your particular health area full. Rather than miss the appointment you would use any available space as you are quite correctly using one of the health facilities and should not be penalised for doing so!
What is also very obvious is that there are not enough parking spaces allocated for the health amenities and hence the battle between each of them to protect their valuable bays; but the public are the losers.
John L Broad, Mallards Way, Bicester