“I am starting Keele university in september this year. I have been told that first year students are not allowed to park on campus, meaning i will have to get 2 buses and a train to and from university. Does anyone know of places to park on or off campus?? is their any spaces at all avaliable for first year students??
Sarah”

“The University uses weasel words.They gloriously describe themselves as the ultimate campus university of the twenty first century. They will even sell you a parking permit but don't expect to be able to use it and park at peak teams i.e. during a semester. If there were sufficient parking places, people would park legally. The University is making a bad situation worse in selling more permits than there are places to use. I got an invalid invoice from the car parking partnership who are actually stationers. I wrote to the company who ignored all my points and just stated that the notice would stand. There is an implied contract which you enter in to when you park. The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (1999). Schedule 2 contains a non-exhaustive list of terms which may be regarded as unfair for example

(e) requiring any consumer who fails to fulfill his obligation to pay a
dis-proportionately high sum in compensation.

Clearly per the Act £50 for parking for an hour is not reasonable so the above regulations will apply and the invoice is invalid. Anyone who gets one of these invoices should just ignore it. After about five increasingly threatening letters, they will stop. Does the University not realise the harm that is being done in its name ?”

“Chris and Adam (my friends :-D) are totally right!

I have parked at Keele ONCE... EVER, to hand an essay in during the summer and I got a parking ticket within ten minutes of being on the wasteland that they call a car park!

Over-zealous was the exact same word I used in my (unsucessful) appeal.

Keele needs to sort it out before it continues robbing students of their hard earned money that could be better spent on beer... in the union!”

“We are paying £50 for a parking space that we don't get...that's a con.

But there are other more serious issues of safety. One girl has mentioned that some of the car parks aren't lit (especially the running track) and we get bombarded constantly by emails telling us not to wonder round campus in the dark on our own. The nights are drawing in and you just don't feel safe.

Also, the car parks haven't been gritted and with the recent snow this is just plain irresponsible. I slipped over on the leisure centre car park on Tuesday. And yesterday (Thursday) I was about to park on the running track (the so-called overspill car park) when my car started skidding all over the place.

What had happened is the running track had flooded because it had rained, but underneath the water was a layer of ice from the day before. I couldn't park there in the end for fear of crashing into someone's car, or someone crashing into me. It wouldn't have been difficult to lose control.

All it would take is somebody to take the time to put grit down. They seem to have enough time to fine us but not enough time to worry about basic safety...which we are all entitled to. Especially since we pay to park there.

Also, on Tuesday when it had snowed you couldn't see the markings on the car park so it was a matter of guesswork. Obviously the car parks were a mess and there was even less spaces. But the unbelievable thing is that I saw a guard going around giving fines!
How can we park properly in a designated parking space if we can't see the lines on the tarmac??? Again, all it would have taken was some grit.

It has gone beyond the simple annoyance of not being able to park...and has crossed the line into plain dangerous.

Parking at Keele is a joke...and not a very funny one.”

“I have been a student at keele for many years, trying to better myself and my career possibilities. In all that time I have not received a parking fine but recently since the new ¿independent¿ company have taken over it is a nightmare!!!!!! Trying to find a space and stay ¿legally parked¿ is an impossible task.

I have many times asked two simple questions... how many permits are issued? And how many spaces are available? The car parking at Keele is only going to get worse, last month we lost two more car parks which are currently being built on, and part of
another which is being used to store building equipment. If I was going to Hanley to shop it wouldn't be so frustrating because I could just go another day or go to Newcastle, but I have to go to keele to work/study.

The 'overflow car park' (which is in fact a running track not a car park) is not fit for purpose. For Health & Safety reasons car parks must be illuminated at night, but it is not. It is therefore, according to H&S regulations 'probably an illegal car park'. So does that make the car parking fines also illegal?

I also received a ticket last month for not displaying a current parking permit. Last year¿s permit is the same colour as this year (as a postgrad student I am given a ¿staff¿ permit; I don¿t know why), and with other issues to worry about I forgot to get this year¿s permit. Because it is the same colour as last years I never realised until I got the parking fine and questioned it. I had to pay there and then for a new permit from the University (difficult to do when you are living off your savings trying to finish your studies), and now have to argue the problem of the £25-£50 fine with the independent car parking company. I was told that staff permit users should have been sent information through the post regarding the renewal of permits for the new academic year by one of the security guards, but I did not receive any paperwork (and neither did the security guard who was also fined for having an out-of-date permit). It would be interesting to find out how many others were also fined for the same administration problem.”

“Last year I had to park on the running track that is the overflow car park. I travelled from Leek every day after dropping my children off. My car was filthy every day from the muddy car park, and to top it all I had to replace the sensors on my ABS because of the mud. Cost me £200 to fix this, as well as the £50 to park on the muddy car park. Someone else I knew had the same problem. I felt like sending the bill to Keele, but I was advised that I stood no chance of getting the money back. Ridiculous.”

“Ed...we can afford cars because alot of us have part time jobs and use our wages to run them, not all students fit the sterotype of blowing all our money on drink and drugs.
catching a bus would use up too much of my time and cost more than I spend a week in petrol.”

“Ed, there ARE busses every 10 minutes to the uni ....but you fail to mention that they only ever seem to come from Hanley, which is great if you live in Hanley ...but is an absolute nightmare if you live in Cellarhead. It would take me over 2 hrs, and cost over £3 each way, if I were to use the Cellarhead/Hanley - Hanley/Keele route.

So, for the sake of not having to spend 20 hrs, and £30 a week for the privelage of not using my car (which I have already paid for) I join the car parking fiasco on a daily basis.

Also, I should correct the misconception that the tickets issued are 'fines' or 'Penalties'(which are legally enforcable). As the car parks are on private land, they are 'Parking Charge Notices' - basically an invoice which requests money, backed up with threats of civil court action. As far as I am aware (although I'm no lawyer!) they have no legal status whatsoever. Maybe the reporter would like to do some research for us?”

“There is a bus every ten minutes to the Uni and cheap tickets available to students so why are they using their cars..and how can they afford to run them?”

“£50 per car and £3000 per student. This stupid amount of money for access to 3 car parks, two of which arent even design for the purpose.
Many students dont just risk getting tickets; they run the risk of knocks and dents which cost us even more.
I've been a student at Keele for 2 1/2 years and the car parking has never been this bad. This year they seem to have taken on more students with cars then they can cope with.
Every time you think that you'll manage to find a space, you end up being late. Many a time i have parked somewhere i shouldnt hoping that when i return i wont have got a ticket. So far, i've been lucky.
I once suggested that there be lines put on the graveled area; only to be told that it would seriously reduce the amount of spaces available as currently there are too many cars on site.
With so much land available they have the chance to provide decent parking yet we dont see it. Thankfully i only have this year left to do.”