Football fan parking offers council a get rich quick scheme

So it seems it's not just big businesses that sees football fans as a way of making a fast buck writes Dave Burrows.

Not so long ago I ranted, in the kind of ranty way that only I can, after receiving a parking ticket for leaving my car on the all-but-deserted Meole Brace car park on a Tuesday night when Shrewsbury Town were playing at home.

But now it seems even more of the area near the ground is out of bounds, and this time it's Shropshire Council that has seen a get rich quick scheme in the making.

On Monday, Shrewsbury were in front of the Sky cameras. A win against promotion rivals Crawley moved The Town into the top three and in with a real shout of going up automatically.

Fans joy was short-lived, however, when they returned to their cars which had been parked on a grass verge next to the CLOSED Meole Brace Park and Ride to discover they had been ticketed. More than 50 supporters were slapped with £75 fines.

Football fans and car owners have both been treated like pariahs in recent years, so I suppose it was inevitable that if you are both, the day was coming when this would happen.

What kind of message is this that Shropshire Council is sending out?

The tunnel between Meole Brace and the Greenhous Meadow is open to the public. Why? You park on the retail park, you get fined. You park anywhere else in Meole Brace, you get fined.

Nobody is stupid enough to leave their car at the Park and Ride on a Saturday, but what on earth is the harm when the facility isn't even operating?

One fan said he believed the council was 'sending a message' with a number of night games coming up. Who can argue?

Officials eventually met with the club to resolve the problem. Good idea. It's not like the stadium's been there a few years now and that this should all have been sorted before a single ball was kicked, is it? By my reckoning this is at least the third travel plan in the four seasons we've been at the new ground.

And how much talking was needed to decide that the solution was to open up the park and ride. Genius. Why wasn't that already the case? Because it's football fans, that's why. There was never a problem opening up the park and rides at Christmas for late night shopping. And then it was free.

Maybe they could also try speaking to the owner of Meole Brace retail park and point out to them they have a massive car park which is virtually unused at night time and ask them if they might want to think about giving a little bit back to the community?

Having a league club brings a lot of money into Shrewsbury. Having a league club fighting for promotion does even more. It brings in more money and, to coin a cliche, it puts the town on the map.

Maybe its time the decision-makers in the town started realising this and stopped treating us like second-class citizens. After all, should Shrewsbury manage to get promoted, they'll all be jumping on the band wagon.

And I'll bet that will be allowed to park wherever the hell it likes.

See also:

• Shrewsbury Town supporters’ fury at car parking fines

• Leader: Parking tickets take gloss off Shrewsbury Town win

• Shrewsbury Town fans fuming at match parking fines