'There's a hidden upside to the Trafford Centre's new pay-for car park'
I've been driving to the Trafford Centre for the best part of 25 years, and, call me a creature of habit, but I always, always head to the same car park.
It's like I'm a human homing pigeon, only capable of one route through all the roundabouts around the vast shopping mall and cannot possibly deviate from that one car park that I know how to get to.
I did try to get out of my comfort zone on one occasion, trying to park up round by The Orient. But my confusion at the roads on that side saw me end up in Urmston and I don't fancy that palaver again.
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And so it is that I've stuck with the same parking spot through thick and thin over all these years. And that car park is Upper Peel 5, or the 'one near Selfridges' as I've always known it.
Yes, the one the Trafford Centre is soon to barrier off into a new 'Premium Parking' experience that customers will have to pay for.
I, like many shoppers, had seen all the work going on at the car park and just assumed it was being resurfaced. So I admit to feeling somewhat panicky when I saw the plans that had been approved for the first paid-for 'Premium' parking spaces up there, in 'my' car park.
Half of Upper Peel 5 will eventually be barriered off for the new pay-for scheme, although Trafford Centre bosses haven't yet stated when it starts or how much it will cost.
At first I thought 'no way am I paying to park there'. But since then I've had time to reflect, look a bit more at all the details of the thing, and realise you know what? This might not be such a bad thing after all.
For one thing - the new-look car park (which is still free to use for the time being) has giant new spaces to appeal to what they describe as 'premium shoppers'. Being a premium shopper seems to be defined as those with 'larger vehicles and family cars'.
They've created much wider new spaces to accommodate these premium people in their premium Range Rovers, SUVs and 4x4s. Although the car park will be open to all folk if you're willing to pay, just to be clear.
I've been whinging about these super-sized motors for a while now and the way some of their owners seem to think they own the road. You can read exactly what I thought when I saw some of the selfish parking displayed by certain owners of SUVs at the very busy Quayside shopping centre car park earlier in the summer here.
So when you start thinking of Premium Parking as being one giant SUV creche at the Trafford Centre, it suddenly seems like quite a good idea doesn't it?
And for those without an SUV, like myself currently driving about in my mum's old Honda Jazz, you can park next to any size of vehicle and be pretty much assured someone is not going to block you in, or park over the lines.
Because just look at the size of these spaces. They're huge.
I'd suggest even an SUV driver might be able to actually park their giant wheels within one of these spaces without touching a line.
And just think of the knock on of this - less SUVs in all the other free car parks around the Trafford Centre.
I still feel a bit misty-eyed and loyal to Upper Peel 5 though. And so, a bit like working out if I could really justify £145 for an Oasis ticket if I ever got through the Ticketmaster loading page, I've started to ponder how much I might be willing to spend to be able to still use the car park when the barriers eventually come down.
£1 an hour? Yep, I'll do it. £2 an hour? Might be pushing it a bit. Anything over £3 an hour and I'm off to Trafford Palazzo and will walk through the tunnel, thank you very much.
The reality is most town (and city) centres you go to across the north west nowadays charge you for parking there. And I suppose it was only a matter of time before the Trafford Centre started to look at it too.
The fact of the matter is there are always people who want to be right at the front of any car park, and there will undoubtedly be lots of people willing to pay for that honour at the Trafford Centre too.
The worry of many readers in response to the plan is that this just the beginning of 'two tier parking' at the Trafford Centre. Although bosses of the mall insist there are no plans to charge for any other car park on the site.
We've all somehow sleptwalk (or sleptdriven) into a Manchester City Centre with car parks now charging up to £34.95 for a six hour stay (I'm looking at you, Spinningfields NCP).
So maybe we should all just sit back and enjoy the fact that there still remains 11,500 other free spaces we can use all around the Trafford Centre. I'm just going to have to get used to the fact I need to find them.