More than 40 years ago, British Rail was waging war on drivers who were pinching parking places at the front of Glossop train station.
The cobbled forecourt in Norfolk Street was for passengers to park for free while they took a train ride to work.
But it was increasingly being used by non-rail users and early in 1976 British Rail decided to levy a charge on the non-travellers.
A BR spokesman told the Chronicle: “There was always paid parking and there were (small) signs telling people, but they were ignoring them
“Passengers were arriving to find our car park full.”
Parking prices were chalked up on a blackboard which went up on the cobbles, but the venture was hardly a success.
The cost of parking was continually being rubbed off the board and there were no instructions of where it should be paid.
It was difficult to see who had paid the fee at the ticket office and those who hadn’t.
Fast forward a few decades and the fool-proof ticketing system in operation today was installed and with the ‘free’ parking holding more risks, the fees started to roll in.
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