Angry shoppers ticketed again when car park machine not working
16
Sep
Only last week I asked what the correct protocol is when you arrive in Swale Borough Council Car Park only to find the ticket machine isn't working.
I asked because that's exactly what happened to me last week on route to catch a train to London and in a panic I elected to drive to the car park round the corner because I knew that I would be gone for most of the day.
Why did I do this because I have a vague recollection of someone who got ticketed even though the machine was broken.
Now if I was only staying for a short while I'd have been tempted just to stick a note in the window explaining that the machine was out of order, but what is the correct thing to do?
Well it appears to Council have been at it once more as a lady has contacted us explaining that a dozen or so cars were ticketed yesterday, even though the machine was not working and everyone had placed notes in their car windows to that effect.
So I have just contacted the Council and asked what the official position is and the answer is not particularly helpful.
The Council said that if a fault is reported they will instruct the parking officers to avoid the car park for 4 hours. They also added that if a fault is not found on the machine when they inspect it then everyone will be ticketed.
So what happens if the fault hasn’t yet been reported or you are gone longer than 4 hours, or the machine suddenly starts working again?
The lady in question was only gone for 2 hours, it was abundantly obvious given a dozen or so cars all had notes in their car windows that the machine was at fault at some point, so why were all these cars ticketed?
Our correspondent said "the two parking officers were still there issuing tickets, when we returned. They claimed the machine was now working. So, presumably they thought we had all lied about the machine being out of order!"
The Council was unable to provide an answer and suggested contacting the company that they had outsourced the contract to.
This behaviour whether a rogue parking official or Council policy is extremely damaging for business, with a High Street on its knees the Council clearly needs to adopt some kind of official policy and make this know.
For now I can only suggest that if the car parking machine isn’t working, don’t take a chance, drive somewhere else.
Andy Hudson
Sittingbourne.Me
I asked because that's exactly what happened to me last week on route to catch a train to London and in a panic I elected to drive to the car park round the corner because I knew that I would be gone for most of the day.
Why did I do this because I have a vague recollection of someone who got ticketed even though the machine was broken.
Now if I was only staying for a short while I'd have been tempted just to stick a note in the window explaining that the machine was out of order, but what is the correct thing to do?
Well it appears to Council have been at it once more as a lady has contacted us explaining that a dozen or so cars were ticketed yesterday, even though the machine was not working and everyone had placed notes in their car windows to that effect.
So I have just contacted the Council and asked what the official position is and the answer is not particularly helpful.
The Council said that if a fault is reported they will instruct the parking officers to avoid the car park for 4 hours. They also added that if a fault is not found on the machine when they inspect it then everyone will be ticketed.
So what happens if the fault hasn’t yet been reported or you are gone longer than 4 hours, or the machine suddenly starts working again?
The lady in question was only gone for 2 hours, it was abundantly obvious given a dozen or so cars all had notes in their car windows that the machine was at fault at some point, so why were all these cars ticketed?
Our correspondent said "the two parking officers were still there issuing tickets, when we returned. They claimed the machine was now working. So, presumably they thought we had all lied about the machine being out of order!"
The Council was unable to provide an answer and suggested contacting the company that they had outsourced the contract to.
This behaviour whether a rogue parking official or Council policy is extremely damaging for business, with a High Street on its knees the Council clearly needs to adopt some kind of official policy and make this know.
For now I can only suggest that if the car parking machine isn’t working, don’t take a chance, drive somewhere else.
Andy Hudson
Sittingbourne.Me
Comments
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Started using the parking App now can't trust the machines anymore ,which means I pay even more money but just can't take a chance.
Read some of the other articles on here about Commuters ,I always suspected we were hated by the local community and now I have it confirmed!
I am still paying my Council tax and pay the car park fee everyday I shop locally out of hours don't bother anyone, while the locals get all the benefits!
I don't even clog the roads up during the day.
Read some of the other articles on here about Commuters ,I always suspected we were hated by the local community and now I have it confirmed!
I am still paying my Council tax and pay the car park fee everyday I shop locally out of hours don't bother anyone, while the locals get all the benefits!
I don't even clog the roads up during the day.