Those car parking ticket machines are killing our high street

Arrrh.. Just popped down to Sittingbourne to pick up something very quickly and spent almost as much time trying to get a parking ticket as I did undertaking the task in hand.

Two out of the three ticket machines in the Forum car park are currently not working and the third failed on my attempt to purchase a ticket, necessitating the intervention of a parking officer, much to the distress of the very long queue behind me. 

What made the situation worse was the fact that the place was crawling with parking officers handing out tickets because some motorist had failed to spot the one working machine. 

You would have thought that they might have been present to fix the machines but apparently not because they explained to me that the machines had broken down because of the rain and it had fried the electronics. 

Really, the machines don't work when it rains.

Is it any wonder people are put off coming to Sittingbourne because of the stupid machines that constantly cease to function.

When will it dawn on the Council that milking motorists for every penny is at least in part responsible for the demise of our High Street. 

It's time for a complete rethink on how, when and if indeed we should charge for parking. And the purchase of those machines was a seriously bad idea.

Andy Hudson
Sittingbourne.Me