On the 10th July 1958 Richard Nugent, the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Transport, inaugurated a new form of street furniture with a quote from Milton – “they also serve who stand and wait”. He was not the first user of the parking meters, as many motorists had already wisely predicted the inevitable and occupied the bays. The government claimed that this latest ‘experiment’ was in the name of traffic management but even 60 years ago the cynical were heard to mutter remarks along the lines of ‘nice little earner for the council’. At least the scheme was more palatable than a 1954 plan to covert Hyde Park into accommodation for cars. The meter was invented by Carl C Magee of Oklahoma in 1935 and 18 years later the Ministry of Transport was considering their use in London. One objection at Cabinet level was that they would prove unpopular but the growth of private car ownership in the 1950s inevitably placed a burden on local authorities. In 1951 just 14% of households had access to a car but within eleven years this percentage had doubled, and this 1958 short film gives a fascinating insight into motoring in the days… Read full this story
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Paradise lost? Celebrating 60 years of the parking meter, a machine that changed motoring forever have 283 words, post on www.telegraph.co.uk at July 10, 2018. This is cached page on SEO. If you want remove this page, please contact us.