car park ticket machine

[dot.hawkes]

grrrrrrrrr, parked in town today and only had a �1 coin in change and so put it in the meter, got me ticket, no change, there was a man in a grey uniform with a red band round his hat and i asked him for the change but he said they don;t give change, I went to woolies, bought 5 packs of the topp trump wrestling cards for my grandson, got back to car, 6 minutes it took me, the guy in the grey was giving someone a ticket, i asked him how much profit had they made out of me that day, he grinned and said he had no idea. It is 50p for two hours and a �1 for 3 hours.
Memo to self, get change before parking in future.

Is our town as greedy as your town?

[sense4all]

Yes indeedie. Makes me spit.

[rabbitygirl]

50p for 2 hours Dot! I am surprised they can pay the uniformed guy at all on that.

Your town greedy? Nope. What's it called again - Brigadoon?

[weggiewabbit]

The answer to your question is ... NO!

�1 for 3 hours is very reasonable by comparison � so is �1 for 2 hours

[dot.hawkes]

well what about �1 for 6 minutes? That sounds kinda excessive, I knew it was 50p for the first hour, but to be honest I am used to parking in Wigan where they have change in the machine and unfortunately I went into Chorley cos i needed the cards outa woolies and wigan does not have a woolies now.
But there should be a way of getting change, they are robbing people.

[Panic Button]

Machines that give change are much more expensive to buy, require more maintenance and need topping up regularly.

[dot.hawkes]

hey that sounds alot like me PB!!!!!!!!!!!! what you trying to imply !!!!!!!!!

[sense4all]

Yeah but they've got you by the giblets if you don't part with a quid ... and it cost a 100 quid and the time for the clamper to release you in our local one. The shonked up the rates when Mand S moved into the town opp this car park too ... gits!

[Panic Button]

A genuine out loud chuckle escaped from me.

Good night. I'm working early.

[Buenchico]

50p for 2 hours? You've got it cheap up there in the north-west!

Down here in Suffolk, Ipswich charges around �1.60 for one hour but many car parks don't let you pay for just one hour. The minimum payment on many car parks is �2.70 for 2 hours. (That can work out rather expensive if you're only popping into town for 5 minutes!).

In central London, charges are much higher. For example, the minimum payment on the NCP Carrington Street Car Park (just off Piccadilly) is �13.00 for 2 hours.

Returning to Suffolk, though, Stowmarket has a policy which enables you to find change for parking. Their displayed 'parking code' states that anyone parking their car must purchase a ticket within 10 minutes of arriving. So, if you haven't got change, you've got 10 minutes to find some. The charges are also reasonable, starting at 50p per hour. The only problem is that there's not much to do in Stowmarket when you've parked your car ;-)

Chris

[NORMANTHEDOG]

dot,dont be so tight.

[redcrx]

I think my hometown is the only one in the area that has NO pay and display car parks.
Mind you, no-one would be too happy about paying to look around a town that now seems to be no more than 15 charity shops, 8 estate agents, 2 portuguese delis and a woolworths

[milliezoe]

Just to put my view all car parks should be free its a revenue raiser for local councils who have too much effing power anyway

[zinnie]

Hi 'dot.hawkes'......just a couple of points....if your local council was to replace all the parking machines with modern equipment that gave change it would be a major cost that would probably mean an uncrease in your council tax .........the other point is consider yourself lucky that you can park for an hour for just 50p ....where I live an hour costs �1.50p!!! .........just keep a few 50p coins around.

[Loosehead]

Put on yorkshire voice....

"50p for 2 hours?? Loooxury"!

Dotty, come to Bournemouth if you want to be shocked! it varies by car park but it's a lot dearer than that! Another thing our machines do is take the money and if it's not enough just gives you a ticket for the lower amount. eg it's 90p for 1 hour, �1.50 for 2 hours then if you put in �1.40 and press the button inadvertanly it's take the dosh but give you only 1 hour! We are Tory now but just booted out the Libdems who tripled CT and spent it all on traffic humps!

[Coobeastie]

The cost of keeping change giving machines would mean that ticket prices would go up. As it is non change giving machines are a huge target for thieves so having a constant float inside a machine would just exacerbate things.

Think pay and display is fair why should none driving council tax payers pay for the drivers to park?

Our local council gives 10 minutes to go and get change and the charges are considerably more than yours, you might have been able to do your shop and get back without paying if you'd asked the warden before buying your ticket...

[ceejay123]

I have asked ALL these question of my local council (Lancater) and got ALL the same dismissive answers as on this thread!
But there was one question that they were cagey about and that is this.
If I arrive at the machine with just a quid coin and its 80p per hour and i use said quid, why do i NOT get proportionally longer for the extra 20 p????????
Ask the ******** that!
In this day and age with comps as powerful as they are is there not the faccility to do this???

[Coobeastie]

Its quite easy to get machines to give proportionate time for the amount put in but then it probably easier to remember that you've bought a fixed period of time (say 2 hrs) rather than an obscure length of time such as 2 hours and 13 minutes.

[Brooksy]

Don`t come to Croydon!

[weeal]

some machines in Glasgow are �1 for 10 minutes !!! honest

[jg96]

Hi Dot I live in Chorley..Yes its a ripoff and they dish out penalty notices like confetti. A couple of months ago my wife phoned me in a flap telling me she was stuck in the hairdressers and her ticket ran out in15 mins. Grabbed the spare keys for her car drove into town found the car with 2 mins to spare. Saw the grey uniform guy across the car park. Bought another ticket for 1 hour which then had 16.25 took the other one out which had 15.25 as the expiry got back in my own car and watched the warden make a beeline for my wifes car he had obviously been waiting to pounce. The sheer joy of the look on his face thinking he was seeing things will stay with me forever. One up for me I think!