Torrox Council has introduced a rather different sort of ‘blue zone’ parking system for tourists, residents and traders visiting the historic centre, one that doesn’t fleece the motorist at every turn.
It is a pioneering system based upon self-regulation and costs just one euro. Not one euro every time you park for an hour, or fraction of an hour as occurs in many places, but a one-off payment of one euro.
In exchange you get a cardboard disc with clock hands and you set the time of parking. At the end of the parking time, you must move the vehicle at least one hundred metres before parking once more.
The system operates Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 14:00 and from 17:00 to 20:00 and there are around 100 parking places, marked in blue, in places such as plaza de la Constitución, paseo de los Moreras and plaza de Almanzor near the courts and health centre.
Overstaying your welcome will cost you €100, with the monitoring being carried out by the Local Police.
In the first three weeks of operation, some fifty people have been fined including a number who would sneak back after 59 minutes to change the clock hands on the disc.
The idea is to promote a constant turnover of vehicles, thus aiding local businesses amongst other things, without burdening the motorist with what are, in effect, extra taxes.
The system appears to be working well so far and the Council is not ruling out extending the initiative to include other areas.