Drivers waste money in parking meters that don't work yet (From Bournemouth Echo)

Drivers waste money in parking meters that don't work yet

8:00am Thursday 26th November 2009

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DRIVERS have been regularly feeding their cash into new parking meters – unaware that they weren’t supposed to be in use.

And one student who paid for a full day’s parking was landed with a fine for breaking the old rules which are still in force until the meters go live.

Motorists say the episode has enabled Bournemouth council to collect large amounts of cash which weren’t due.

The meters were installed in Meyrick Road, near Bournemouth’s Lansdowne, in an area often used by students and commuters.

Kevin Surrey, an access course student at Bournemouth and Poole College, said the machines were not working when they were first installed. But then some of the signage for the old parking rules was removed and the display on the machines indicated they were taking money, he said.

“I know lots of people who have been paying. I was spreading the word that the machines were working and people were running down and getting their tickets,” he said.

“For about two weeks, the machines were definitely working. On October 13 I came out of college and found I’d got a parking ticket.”

The ticket was for exceeding the one-hour time limit which applies before the meters officially come into use.

“This week, all the parking meters have been covered over with ‘out of order’ wrapping,” Mr Surrey added.

Despite there being no notices displaying the tariff, he said people had worked out the charges from the machines’ display screens.

He said many people had been paying £3 for an eight-hour stay. “They’ve made a lot of money over this period through the machines,” he added.

A statement from Gerry Bolland, parking and enforcement manager at Bournemouth Borough Council, said the pay-and-display scheme would not be in force until November 30. “There are currently no tariffs on display and all the new pay and display ticket machines and signage for the scheme have been covered with bags and stickers stating that the machine is not in service,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we have had a number of incidents in the area of theft and vandalism of the bags covering the machines. We have been monitoring this problem and re-covering the machines in these instances.”

He said the contractor which collects cash from the machines had not yet been asked to empty them, so it was impossible to say how much money had been fed into them.

Anyone who has kept their pay and display ticket can claim a refund from the council’s parking shop on Avenue Road.

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