TEAM UZUNOV beat Sunday Herald Sun over Airport Security story by 7 months !
It has taken major Melbourne newspaper The Sunday Herald Sun 7 months to realise there is a parking problem at Melbourne Airport.!See our story below on 25 January 2011 and Sunday Herald Sun's on 21 August 2011.
http://teamuzunovmedia.blogspot.com/2011/01/melbourne-airport-security-concern.html
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
MELBOURNE AIRPORT SECURITY CONCERN
TEAM UZUNOV INVESTIGATION.
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Workers construct barriers on the Tullamarine Freeway Picture: Rob Leeson Source: Sunday Herald Sun
NEW moves to fortress off the roadside on the approach to Melbourne Airport have been blamed for creating fast-food parking havoc.
Staff at the McDonald's airport outlet have complained that parking fee dodgers are clogging the restaurant carpark as they wait for flights to arrive.
One said the problem had grown worse since VicRoads began installing permanent fencing along the Tullamarine Freeway as part of a $4.5 million "safety upgrade" this year.
"The carpark is always full and customers and sometimes even staff can't get a park," the staff member said.
Angry motorists, including Ferntree Gully's Robyn Key, complained the works were about forcing people to pay $12 an hour for short-term parking.
"They are just trying to force people into their ridiculously priced parking," Ms Key said while waiting at McDonald's for her daughter to fly in from Tasmania. "It's totally a money grab."
Christine Cook, of Lancefield, said stopping people from parking on roadsides was "pretty shameless".
But Melbourne Airport spokeswoman Anna Gillett said the practice was a traffic hazard.
"(The fencing) is to stop people from parking on the side of the road when they are waiting for a plane to arrive," Ms Gillett said.
"That's actually really dangerous, so as part of a safety initiative they are erecting safety barriers along there."
In the 2009-10 financial year, Melbourne Airport reaped close to $90 million from its carparks.
An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission report released this year was scathing about the airport's parking.
Former ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel, who retired last month, accused the airport of price gouging by not allowing any alternative to its own carparks.
"By reducing the ability of alternatives to compete, Melbourne Airport can increase demand for its own car parking services, charge higher prices to consumers and, therefore, earn monopoly profits," Mr Samuel said.
The Sunday Herald Sun last week saw several cars pulled up on the freeway reserve, despite signs warning of $73 fines.
VicRoads metropolitan northwest regional director Nial Finegan said the works, which included installation of a wire rope safety barrier, guard fence and other "hazard removal", were purely to prevent accidents.
"The road safety project is not related to parking issues," he said.
