Front gardens turn to concrete as parking prices soar

Seven million motorists in the UK have swopped their green front gardens for concrete drives as parking prices soar and roads become overcrowded. The RAC Foundation has disclosed figures today showing that more and more car owners are opting to turn their front garden into parking bays.

More vehicles on the road, means less parking spaces available, and with councils making almost half a billion pounds every year in car parking fees, and overcrowding literally driving people off the road, some drivers are left with no choice but to turn the area in front of their house into a parking plot.

The RAC Foundation has reported that the amount of front garden space converted to concrete is comparable to 72 Olympic Parks or 100 Hyde Parks.

Data from the report shows that amongst the 80 per cent of the country’s houses that were built with a front plot, around a third of these have been transformed.

With cars getting bigger and an increase in population, drivers are having to look for alternative places to park their cars.
Even where properties have garages, these are increasingly being used to store things other than vehicles or converted into extra accommodation, the report says. A third less cars are put away in a garage overnight than a decade ago.

Another eye-opener that the research shows is that the average car is only on the go for 4 per cent of the time as it is parked at home for 80 per cent of the time, and parked elsewhere for 16 per cent of the time.