I spent £43.50 on “parking” attending the first Manchester Liberal Drinks – a sort of protozoan Liberal Club, organised through facebook.

First we went into the wrong car-park, too far away from the venue. That cost me £3.00 to get out. I was reminded of Fargo, where Steve Buscemi’s character shoots the car-parking attendant for demanding payment for a stay lasting less than 5 minutes. One sympathises.

Then the ‘right’ car park was found – £5.50 – but this had a catch, threatening to close at 10:00pm. At 9:45 I left the pub to find somewhere else to park. Now call me paranoid but walking around on my own in a busy, unfamiliar city centre at night is not my idea of fun. I drove around for ages trying to find a parking spot close to the venue so I wouldn’t have too far to walk, and ended up parking somewhere I shouldn’t. I assumed, stupidily it seems, that traffic wardens wouldn’t be operating at that sort of time.

Ha, how wrong was I? Just after the car park closes is a perfect time for traffic wardens to go scouting around looking for suckers. Manchester City Council have 24×7 parking enforcement, it seems. Result? Another £35.00 parking charge.

I can’t believe I’m saying this but I might have to get the train next time. Tyranny! (Well, I know I don’t have a leg to stand on, I’m just having a whinge, but still… tyranny!)