Now that the holiday season is well and truly over, we are starting to have some interesting council meetings again. For example, the Review Committee meets tonight, to discuss such issues as Area Committees.
And one meeting to look out for is Full Council on the 25th, which will be setting the council budget. It won’t be much fun this year…..
Glad to see one of my (many) pet hates being discussed on BBC1’s “Rip-off Britain” last night – namely the apparent inability for parking ticket machines to give change.
The chap who was investigating this scam in his local town found through FoI requests that the practice is worth about £40,000 extra revenue over a 3 year period.
They interviewed a council official who stated that the practice was acceptable because there were clear notices to the public that no change was given, so it was then a matter of choice for the driver whether he wants to pay the extra money or not! Basically he was saying pay the extra or don’t bother coming to our town – some choice! I nearly punched the telly at that point.
The last time I used Webster’s Way carpark was to take my daughter for a doctor’s appointment, so my choice was pay the extra 40p (a 66% overpayment of the 60p fee for 1hr) or not get to the appointment. You don’t even get a pro-rata increase in the time you can stay when you over-pay, and that kind of update could be handled with a simple software change.
It’s not so much the cost that bothers me, but the principle and the apparent attitude to the motorist/shopper. I wonder how shopkeepers would perform if they decided to put up signs saying no change given?
I asked about this a year or two ago. I was told by officers that you couldn’t get pay and display machines that gave change. I found some on the internet that the council could buy, but the council still isn’t interested….