There are currently three distinct parking symbols on our maps, though they vary by edition. Please refer to your map.
1) Public car park, standard purple square with white letter P. These indicate a variety of car parks where the public are normally welcome. They may vary in size, holding a half dozen cars to several hundred. Pay car parks usually have the word Pay attached. Some public car parks have the word Closed attached. These are features that are either temporarily or permanently closed due to vandalism etc.
Car parks attached to pubs, shops and churches are generally marked as public car parks. Clearly these are mainly intended for use by their prospective public customers and you do need to keep this in mind if planning to park there for several hours. At very least, ask if in doubt and of course patronise the shop and/or pub before or afterwards etc.
2) Private car park, brown square with white letter P. These indicate car parks intended typically for club member use – e.g. golf clubs. They are not open to the public and are shown simply for information as they are features on the landscape.
3) Parking spot, small purple letter P. These indicate a layby or spot along the road where you would normally be able to park from 1 to 4 cars, without blocking entrances and the road. They are not public car parks. We started plotting such spots to help with a perennial problem of people parking across gates and blocking lanes etc. If these parking spots are anywhere near a house entrance, please ask before using.
We have a small problem in that in attempting to solve one problem, we have worsened the situation in a few places. The public seem to be heading for these spots and even if they are full, squeezing in extra cars to the point of causing hassle & blockages. Please do not use these parking spots if they are hold more than a couple of cars – go somewhere else!