Ms Denise Thompson
Community Relations Manager
Network Rail
London North Eastern
Floor 4A
George Stephenson House
Toft Green
York, YO1 6JT

Dear Ms Thompson

Improvements to Car Parking at Morpeth Station

I am writing in response to your undated letter, received November 2008, to residents near Morpeth Station, one of whom has passed a copy on to me.

I acknowledge that the growth in rail travel at Morpeth Station now results in the car park being full and there is a related problem with rail users parking in Coopies Lane. To this end, we welcome Network Rail’s plans to provide additional car-parking. However, we are strongly against the imposition of car parking charges for legitimate rail users at Morpeth station because:

• We believe it will seriously erode the commercial viability of train travel from the station. For short journeys (eg into Newcastle), we often argue the return rail fare is cheaper than the cost of parking in the City Centre. If a surcharge of £4 for parking at Morpeth is to be added to the rail fare, rail will lose its competitive advantage. If you have to pay to park at Morpeth, people will simply drive all the way to Newcastle instead, as the charge to park there will no longer be a disincentive.
• For commuters, who use the train to get to work, a £4 per day charge will equate to an additional £920 per year over and above the cost of a season ticket (based on 250 working days per year). We believe this will force many to find alternative means of travel. We note a new “Bargain Bus” route has just started between Morpeth and Newcastle with fares lower than other bus operators and lower than the rail fare.
• We are campaigning heavily for Northern Rail to extend the opening hours of the Ticket Office at Morpeth Station, which currently closes at 12.20 and all day on Sunday. When open, the Ticket Office additionally gives passengers access to train running information from the assistant on duty (no automated customer information system is available), the Waiting Room and the Customer Toilet. Northern Rail are sympathetic to our campaign and are currently finalising a business case to extend the opening hours to include afternoons. It is likely this business case is based on a degree of increased retail sales of rail tickets through the Ticket Office. We know that many people either unfamiliar with the internet or confused by the bewildering array of inter-city tickets available prefer to buy their ticket in person from a rail expert at the Ticket Office. The practice is of course for the single assistant on duty to serve those buying tickets for immediate travel in advance of those making advance purchases. This is perfectly acceptable to customers who prefer not to be hassled by an impatient passenger in the queue behind them. But it can mean a wait of up to 20 minutes or so if there are several people buying tickets. I note no provision for free short term parking is made. If one has to pay £4 to park the car in order to purchase a ticket, this is likely to cause a decline in retail sales, wreck the business case for extended opening hours, and thus deny waiting passengers access to train running information, a waiting room and toilet. This in turn will make rail travel less attractive and halt the growth in rail travel from Morpeth which this group has achieved through its promotion of the rail option over the last 4 years.
• I would also mention there is a minority requirement for people who make long distance journeys eg to London, and return the next day, to leave the car at the station overnight. Very few “Pay & Display” machines can accommodate this, most only being capable of collecting the charge for the day of issue. Any machine that is introduced should be able to collect payment for 36 hours from the time of ticket issue.

I appreciate Network Rail wishes to introduce car parking charges to compensate for the cost involved of providing additional spaces. But this should not be done in a way that will damage the growing but fragile rail economy at Morpeth. As a publicly owned company, Network Rail has no mandate to take steps that will deter people from travelling by train.

SENRUG’s own suggestion for the operation of the expanded car park at Morpeth is along the following lines:

• Provide 12 spaces near to the ticket office for free parking with a maximum stay of 30 minutes. Alternatively, allow free parking for the first 30 minutes in all spaces. These would serve those wishing to buy tickets, see people off on to trains, and meet arriving passengers, but not allow parking for longer periods.
• All other parking to be free to legitimate rail travellers, but chargeable for non-rail travellers during Ticket Office opening hours. Arrangements should be made for rail travellers to obtain a free parking ticket from the Ticket Office when purchasing their rail ticket or on production of a previously purchased advance ticket. Season Ticket holders can be issued with monthly or longer parking discs specific to the registration number of their car.
• All parking to be free when Ticket Office is closed. As previously mentioned, if the Ticket Office extending opening project moves forward, free parking for non rail users would be evenings and Sundays only.

Finally, I do feel the current proposals have been put forward by people who are not fully conversant with the local issues at Morpeth. SENRUG prides itself on having achieved considerable success in growing the rail market here by negotiating with train operators to
increase services at the station, evidenced by the fact the car park is now full daily

whereas it was not prior to SENRUG commencing its campaigning activities. It is frustrating to find it is now the rail industry itself that are putting forward plans that might reverse that growth. We recommend action should be postponed until a full study is completed on the impact of the proposals on local rail travel, TOC revenue, and other related rail projects at Morpeth. The study should be undertaken in conjunction with, and its results accepted by the other rail stakeholders including the TOCs, local authorities and of course SENRUG.

I look forward to hearing from you

Kindest regards

Dennis Fancett
Chair, SENRUG: The South East Northumberland Rail User Group

cc
Gillian Turner – Morpeth Town Council
Ian Jopling – Northumberland County Council
Kathryn O’Brien – Northern Rail