First Parking Meter Order Made
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TNB Minister of Transport has made the first Parking IVfeter Order under the Road Traffic Act, 1956. It authorizes Westminster City Council to install meters in certain streets in Mayfair. The scheme is experimental and its effects on traffic congestion in the area will be 'closely watched before similar orders are introduced in other parts of the country.
The Mayfair plan embraces Grosvenor Street, Grosvenor Square and Upper Grosvenor Street, and all streets north. within an area bounded by New Bond Street, Oxford Street and Park Lane.
Parking will be controlled between 8.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. on every day except Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays. On Saturdays from 8.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. motorists will still be required to use the parking bays, but no charge will be made.
Charges will be 6d. for one hour and Is. for two. If a driver overstays the
period for which he has paid he becomes liable to an excess charge of 10s. for a further two hours. Waiting thereafter renders him liable to prosecution.
Elsewhere street parking will -be prohibited, but commercial vehicles may load and unload except at specified street junctions. Cars and taxis may set down and pick up passengers. _ Indiscriminate parking of vehicles for long periods has been a major cause of traffic congestion in Mayfair for some years. The object of the new scheme is to restrict parking to places where it will cause the -least interference with traffic flow and, at the same time, give preference to the short-term parker.
Surplus revenue from the meters must be devoted by Westminster City Council to the provision and maintenance of offstreet parks which the long-term parker is to be urged to use_ The meters have already been ordered.