How one historic London printers shut up shop because of parking fines
Tower Hamlets shop survived war bombings but was brought low by draconian parking laws that are ruining our high streets
A shop closes almost every hour in town centres up and down the country, but there are still some closures that have the power to shock.
This is true of the great printers and family run business of Arber & Co Ltd in Tower Hamlets. When a notice saying “Closing at the end of May” was put up in its window last week, it caused quite a stir on social media.
The family-run business for three generations has printed for the suffragettes and survived bombing through two world wars. But after being in business for 117-years, the draconian parking policy inflicted on shopkeepers by Tower Hamlets council has been partly responsible for bringing it to its knees.
The spy-camera on the pole opposite the shop had proved to be deadly. The last nail in the coffin was when the local vicar was fined after she stopped to pick up two heavy boxes of paper for her church. The spy-camera outside the printers recorded her stop and charged her £65.
Gary Arber, who runs the shop, had noticed the rapid deterioration of his customer base soon after the introduction of a spy camera. He wrote to Tower Hamlets council pointing out the absurdity of the parking restrictions of No Loading on a street full of shops. He got no response, not even an acknowledgment of his letter.
So after three generations of business, he’s decided to call it a day. The introduction of CCTV cameras as parking fines reinforcement meant there was no negotiating with the machine, and his customers could not stop even for two minutes to collect their order.
Stories like this are not unusual. The same scenario is being played out in towns all over the country. And government knows it’s a problem. For some time, ministers have been talking tough on the evils of spy cameras, acknowledging the damage they do to high streets and promising to ban them. But no action has been forthcoming.
The communities secretary, Eric Pickles, said last year that he wanted to “rein in over-zealous rules” where parking cameras were concerned andthat the law could be changed “well before Easter”.
Easter has since come and gone and we’ve heard nothing. The high streets minister, Brandon Lewis, said that councils were violating the principles of Magna Carta by using CCTV cameras to issue parking fines. But instead of taking action he called for motorists to appeal against tickets. This provides no comfort whatsoever for Arber and is no solution to the problem. Shopkeepers want the ban that ministers promised.
Tower Hamlets made £7m from parking fines last year, up from £5.7m the previous year. The trend is up, but at a huge cost to local traders, and the income is due to spy-cameras on the pole that enforce identification by plate-recognition and do not allow any leeway even for a two-minute loading stop by a local vicar.
With government cuts already putting pressure on local authority budgets, officers are doing everything they can to maximise income from other quarters. And the high street is seen as a cash cow that needs to be squeezed relentlessly with little thought for the consequences.
What is happening in many town centres is over-active cameras getting out of hand with no space left for any common sense. The needs of local businesses are not being considered by councils.
It is too late for Gary Arber to try to rescue his shop. The machines are sold, the first printing machine that was used for the suffragettes leaflet, The Golding Printing Press, will go to Bishopsgate Institute. The other machines will go to a printing museum in Norfolk.
His story should be a rude reminder for ministers that they need to inject a sense of urgency into high street policy. It’s not enough just to chase headlines promising to clamp down on cameras. It’s time government started making real progress in this area.
All too often local traders are not able to negotiate any common sense solutions with obstinate and aloof councils that have little or no understanding of their responsibilities to support local high streets. A big cultural change is needed to help support our local small business communities – and ministers need to show some leadership to help bring it about.
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