scouser 4 Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Back in the UK the last few weeks, there were so many times when I had to use Pay And Freaking Display car parks. They really got on my nerves. For those not in the know, you buy your parking ticket up front and put the ticket in the window of you car. So basically you have to decide on how long you are going to be. Very annoying when you really are not sure about that. You either rush to get back or buy a ticket for much longer than you really need. Daft and annoying. Is it just a UK thing? I'm sure there's loads more than there used to be. Link to post Share on other sites
entropy 0 Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Yeah we have lots of those here in Aus. Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Also those machines steal your money. e.g. the price is 90p per hour. If you pay 1.70, expecting about 110mins of parking time, you will actually only get 60mins. what happens to the spare 80p? they just keep it. In Scotland it is disgusting. There are speed cameras every mile and in Edinburgh there are more traffic wardens than people. Parasites! Do their councils have no other way of getting cash I wonder. Link to post Share on other sites
longboardsk8man 0 Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Some of the multi level car parks back home (Oz) have the first hour free, then only a minimal charge for every hour after that. Once you get up to about 4 hours though, the cost price per hour rises pretty quickly. Lot of mates who were in TAFE used to park their cars there in the morning, then do a loop of the block in their lunch hour - reckoned it saved them lots of $s... Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Hold on, if it's 90p an hour, why would you put 170p into the machine? You can only go in units of 1 hour right? so you would either put 180p in and get 2 hours or 100p and get 10p change. Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 It doesnt give change. I put in 170 cos that was all the change I had and I needed to stay as long as possible. When I got my ticket with only 1 hour on it and no change I was mighty p'ed off. By the way this actually happened to me when getting my spouse visa in Edinburgh. I had to keep running in and out of the embassy whenever a traffic warden passed (the security guard was watching the road for me with remote control survellience camera), it was really inconvenient but there was nowhere to get change around there. Anyway the main point is - why only go in units of one hour? Many identical machines in my city just divided the money up and gave you the correct amount of minutes for your money. Its just a very simple calculation so there is no reason why they couldnt do it. Its just to scam more money. Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Not keen on them myself, they can be very annoying if you are not sure how long you will be. Much better to put the ticket in at the end and it tell you how much you owe. Link to post Share on other sites
rach 1 Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 I know what you are saying, not keen myself. Link to post Share on other sites
me jane 0 Posted August 24, 2006 Share Posted August 24, 2006 Totally agree on the pay & display - makes much more sense to pay afterwards, and machines not giving change is theft. Bobby 12, I started a new topic on speed cameras. Link to post Share on other sites
lin 0 Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 With this system, what happens if you are unavoidably delayed and turn up back at your car, say, 2 hours later than you should. Do they fine you or can you just pay the difference? I can understand with the frustrations of the pay and display system, but you should be happy that there is often a good choice of parking available. (We don't quite have as much space here!) Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted August 27, 2006 Share Posted August 27, 2006 They are very annoying. I'd like to know if there is any other reason to have this system (apart from making more money) instead of a machine that tells you how much money you actually owe and pay on the way out Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 if you think about it, they would be no way to police pay and display if you paid when you leave. no-one would pay, as you could just drive off and noone could stop you. (understand pay and display car parks are just street parking on the public streets, no gated entrance etc). Link to post Share on other sites
rach 1 Posted August 28, 2006 Share Posted August 28, 2006 Well a lot of pay and display are not like that are they - they are actual car parks. Of course in the case of street ones that is different. Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted August 29, 2006 Author Share Posted August 29, 2006 I don't think I can ever remember seening a street parking Pay & Display. Link to post Share on other sites
Fossil 0 Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 If Ive paid for longer than I needed I look for drivers coming in to give them the ticket with the remaining time. My one man protest against the system. Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 That just makes the parking costs higher for everyone in the long term. Its the same as the dodgy guys on the underground who buy/sell used travelcards in london. scouser/rach - Ive never seen street parking that wasnt pay and display. most indoor parking ive used has been pay on exit apart form one exception in can remember. maybe it just depends on your city. Link to post Share on other sites
rach 1 Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Interesting. It must be bobby. I think there's 1 more category here - the open air non multi story car park (but not just streets).... they are the ones that are very often P&D. Link to post Share on other sites
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