The "Haribo climbing ship" in the Rheinaue in Beuel is a particularly popular destination. It is all the more annoying when the visit ends with a parking ticket. "Exactly when there are many families there, fines are regularly distributed," Wilfried Löbach, who regularly observes this, is annoyed. Already in 2006, the administration had stated in response to a question from the then FDP deputy in the district council that in 2005 a total of 515 parking violations were registered on Fridays after 2 p.m. (in total there were 976 on Fridays). "Nothing has changed in this practice, according to my observations," says Löbach. Current figures on how many parking tickets are currently issued behind the windshield wipers in total as well as at special times on vehicles around the site cannot be provided by the city when asked.

Especially on Friday afternoons, Löbach observes, a lot of visitors come to the park. "It is a magnet for families with children. You can park there comfortably and unload toys, skateboards and scooters from the car. Most of the time, children are already excited and pushing to hurry, so it's easy to overlook putting out a parking disc in the car," he complains. "I myself have witnessed an employee watching a family get out of the car from a safe distance, and then when they were at the playground, she put the parking ticket on the windshield. Of course, she could have briefly waved or shouted to draw the family's attention to the violation, but then the revenue would have been lost," says Wilfried Löbach.

The city disagrees. It is not true that fines are imposed precisely when many visit the playground. "The city order service controls the area as part of the daily patrol service just like other areas and parking lots in the city area. The controls are always based only on the applicable rules and traffic signs. Of course, they are not aimed at issuing targeted parking tickets to specific motorists," emphasizes a spokesman for the city.

The Beueler district representation concerned itself only in February with this topic. The application to limit the parking disc regulation on Fridays until 12 o'clock was accepted, but the signage has not yet been changed. "And so even at the beginning of April around 3 p.m., parking tickets were still being diligently distributed," Löbach observed.

"The signage has been ordered. Experience shows that it takes a few weeks for the ordered signs to be delivered. It is expected that they can be installed in mid-May. However, in accordance with the decision, the city regulatory service has already stopped controlling the old regulation," added the city spokesman. Before the new regulation, a parking disc had to be displayed from Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.. During this time, regular parking was allowed for a maximum of three hours. If the parking disc was missing altogether, if it was incorrectly set, or if the permitted time was exceeded, the charge was ten Euro. (Original text: Gabriele Immenkeppel / Translation: Mareike Graepel)