At tonights’s special Full Council Meeting, the District Council approved the following decisions:
From sometime in October, car parking charges change as follows:
The Council will get new pay and display machines, that will also allow payment by credit cards and by “wave and pay”. These machines will also be configured to allow “linear charging” – so if you don’t have the right change and put too much money in, you are credited with extra minutes.
Payment will also be allowed by mobile phone – very useful if you are stuck somewhere and can’t get back to your car in time…
The trader refund scheme will be ended
No charging for car parks in Hockley Woods or Cherry Orchard Country Park – but this will be looked at again for next year.
All these decisions to be reviewed after they have been implemented for 6 months.
We are pleased to see the council has kept free parking on Saturday afternoons, and delighted to see the half-hour parking period come back. (The Conservatives praised our Lib Dem colleague June Lumley for her work on the half-hour period) The extra methods of payment could be very useful. The increases are probably less than we feared. So all in all, we were reasonably content- the only thing we asked for but didn’t get was for charging to stop at 6pm instead of 7 pm.
If you have a ticket on the screen and it expires but you have topped up with your mobile whilst out how does the warden know ?
That is a good question – we will get an answer for you….
The registration numbers are sent to the car park chaps’ handheld machines so they have a dynamically updated list of vehicles in the car parks where payment has been made. If the stay is extended the details will automatically be updated. To use the system, you need first to register your details including registration number. Thereafter you just dial the number to automatically pay for time (put number on speed dial and pay as you leave the car park).
Start Council meeetings at 6.30.
Is anyone aware if the new machines will offer sticky backed tickets or not? The reason I ask is because I was in Southend recently and a car next to mine got a parking fine because he did not use the sticker to put the ticket on his windscreen. Strangely enough the ticket was displayed laying in his dashboard and obviously in full view of the warden who had placed the yellow envelope directly next to the ticket in side the window!
Surely if you are displaying the ticket in full view then that should be sufficient?
Disappointed to see a price rise at all really.
CCR
I assume they will stay sticky-backed, but I will check….
Hi Chris, many thanks for the prompt response.
When paying by phone, does the cost get added to your mobile phone bill, or deducted directly from your bank account?
Is the phone number one that will either free, or such that it will come off of your inclusive minutes that you may have on your phone contract? Will the phone payment scheme be compatible with other carparks in the district or county area?
I still think the lack of facilities to give change is wrong. Getting a pro-rata additional time for any over-spend is better than the council just thieving the extra cash from you, but most people would select a parking time that exceeded their actual need anyway, without the need for further time to be added. Change please!
Maybe when I pay for my newspaper at the weekend, the newsagent will also give me the sports pages from The Sun in lieu of change owed.
ST1 Don’t bother its only racing now the football season is over. Go for a colour supplement instead.
If the system is the same as others I have used you link a credit or Debit card to your mobile phone number then ring a 0800 number and select the time you want.