I charge £10 for parking ‘like a wally’ – I’m amazed at how many drivers pay up

A FARMER has been left astonished at how successful a parking sign urging motorists not to be “wallys” has been.

Ian Flindall installed a sign reading “Parking neat and tight £3, parking like a wally £10” after being left furious how visitors to Portheras Cove in west Cornwall were parking in his car park.

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The 69-year-old owner of Chypraze Farm, which lies at the start of a public footpath down to the beauty spot, asks for cash via an honesty box.

But he admits he is “amazed” how drivers are willing to cough up a tenner just to park how they wish.

He told The Sun: “All we are asking is that drivers park close together so that more and more people can come and enjoy the wonderful Cornish coastline.

“But I’m still amazed at how many £10 notes have been put in the honesty box because they can’t be bothered to park close to another car.

“I figure they think, ‘well I’ve just abandoned the car, here’s a tenner.”

Ian and his family have farmed the land near Portheras Cove since the 1960s and had set aside a small piece of land as a car park for visitors.

He explained how his mother-in-law Dorothy Jasper came to the farm as a Land Army girl in the war and stayed.

She then put up a sign up saying people could park on the land if they flung a sixpence into the honesty box.

The parking fee was still a bargain at 5p in 2003 but over the years the price has gone up as more and more people caught wind of the area.

Discussing the ‘wally’ aspect of the sign, he said: “I had the sign made during the Covid pandemic when we were seeing more and more people coming down here.

“I went to the local sign-maker and asked if he could do it and he was only too happy to oblige. I think it was the first time that he’d been asked to use the word ‘wally’ on a sign.”

Ian claims that without the sign, there would be cars parked all down the narrow lane which would cause chaos for the large farm vehicles he drives up and down the road.

The farmer insists he does not want to charge people too much or “rip people off”.

“But if they take up four spaces, then surely they should pay for four spaces”, he slammed.

He reckons if people parked “sensibly” the car park can get a fair few cars in, but when they don’t it’s absolute “mayhem”.

He added how the sign’s wording is the public’s fault, as while he trusts many people to park properly, some will inevitably “spoil it”.

‘GENIUS’

It comes as Ian’s hilarious solution has been hailed a “great idea” by some motorists – but others think it’s problematic.

One person said: “Genius way to stop people parking like t***s.”

And a second said: “I love this idea. You’d think people who spend most of their lives packed into inner cities like sardines would be adept at handling a car…

“But it seems the moment you present them with a nice rural car park without painted lines they have some sort of stress-related aneurysm.”

But another countered: “Isn’t this an example of when ‘fines’ can backfire by legitimising the behaviour?”

He said of his land’s internet fame: “We do get a fair few people come to take pictures of the sign. If you can’t have a bit of a laugh what can you do?”

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