The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
My recent stay in the Sheep Market car park cost me £26.
£1 was the money I put in the ticket machine without receiving a ticket, the rest was for not displaying the non-issued ticket.
In response to the penalty notice stuck on the car, I sent a challenge as below:
“I challenge the above (penalty) notice for the following reason: On arrival at the car park, I tried to obtain a ticket from the machine at the corner nearest The Crescent. The first problem was that my registration number contains the letter X, but the machine would not respond to that letter, so I entered another hoping that it would be accepted.
“The next problem was that I paid £1 cash, the machine swallowed the coin, but did not deliver a ticket. Instead, the display showed a changing message to the effect that it was searching the network for something. That continued for a long time.
“Despite the fact that I had already paid £1, I decided to try again, but with a credit card.
“I followed the procedure through until the display said that it was connecting to the bank. It continued with that display for about two minutes, then indicated to the effect ‘transaction cancelled’.
“By this time I was getting late for my appointment.
“I felt I had tried hard to get a ticket, and had paid £1 anyway. I therefore went on to my appointment.
“In there, I mentioned the ticket machine problems to a member of staff, who told me that they heard a lot of complaints about that machine. I think they might be willing to confirm that comment if SHDC enquired.
“Given all that, allowing for the hassle and that you had my pound anyway, I challenge the demand for a penalty payment.
“Please let me know your decision.”
The response from the SHDC Parking Manager: “Hard luck – pay up!”
He added that I should have notified the council at the time, but given that I’m an infirm walker and was short of time, that wasn’t a practicality.
He gave no indication of concern at the performance of the council’s machine.
John Tippler
Spalding
