General Chat

I tried to pay cash a couple of weeks ago in a machine, but it wouldn’t take it. Luckily I was able to pay by putting my card in.
I thought that I read that the 3G signal is being switched off and it is this signal which is used to operate most of the machines which currently take card payments. The councils need to find another way to replace the cards, hence the use of the apps. I actually have three different apps on my phone because different parts of the country have chosen to use different apps. It would be much easier if there was just one standard app for the whole country

I've read that there are more than 30 different parking apps in use in the UK.

On the subject of Pay Point shops, we have one in our small town and I doubt if all the locals know where it is, never mind the tourists.

There are two council run carparks, one in the town centre and about 5 mins walk from the PayPoint and the other, very popular with visitors, is on the pier/sea front. This one is a lot further away from PayPoint and not easy to find if you don't know the way!!

On the plus side, at the moment traffic wardens are very thin on the ground and the chances of getting a parking ticket are low. You are more likely to be clobbered if you overstay the free time at the Coop carpark, where there are cameras.

Our island no longer has a traffic warden as she retired and was not replaced and there are no cameras in the car park here either.....for now.
In time our council will make changes as they are always looking for ways to cut their budgets so emptying parking machines would be one save i'm sure.

However installing cameras that read number plates etc obviously costs money so that may delay us getting the parking App.

I actually don't know if the town centre has any PayPoints? Given there is only one pay & display probably not and only one main newsagent.

But imagine if you are say a Rep that travels all over the country, can you imagine how many Apps that person would need? Only so much space available on a smartphone!

My peeve is hospital parking

You have an appointment time and arrive in good time to check in and then it’s a long wait for your name to be called that could be over an hour plus after your appointment time

You get bum rushed out the door only to find you are in the next section of parking charges
Soo you get charged for the hospital waiting time!!

It’s happened to me on many occasions when sent for ct scans etc

Fortunately when attending the oncology clinic and chemo sessions they do provide for sessions so giving your parking ticket to reception they put in the machine which lets your vehicle leave parking free


But to charge folks because the clinics run late is to me unacceptable

Do you get free parking Shirley at the hospital if you have a Blue Badge?

Florence
No

Your get designated parking spots where you display your blue badge but still have to pay parking fees

When hubby was hospitalised with sepsis in.2015 he was completely immobilised and couldn’t sit up unaided let alone feed himself

We found his food was being put on the tray but not swung over so he could even attempt to eat (later excuses was short staff!)

Soo having been made aware i went in every lunchtime to feeed him. Grandaughter went in every evening

I got fed up trying to get parking so yes did use his blue badge to park

I felt it was an entitlement tbh honest because he needed me each day and the nursing staff were if you can help it would be appreciated!

So I needed to be there in good time for when lunch was served

I wasn’t free parking as it was still pay

Most trusts say that blue badge holders do not have to pay to park in hospital car parks including some Kent ones. Which is you local trust?

Our local hospital has always had free parking and plenty of it, too. The Glasgow hospitals vary, but the one we have to go to most often is now free, although the spaces are sometimes quite a walk from the entrance.

Our local hospital has very little parking. They redid it a while back to add lots of disabled spaces, leaving far fewer normal spaces. The disabled spaces are crazy because they have huge gaps on each side of them. As my granddaughter uses a wheelchair, I know that the amount of space they have left is overkill. Recently they took lots of the normal spaces and plonked a portacabin on them. Now when you go there are often empty disabled spaces and a long queue of ordinary cars. I had to drop something off earlier this week and couldn’t park, so
I ended up parking in a supermarket car park about five hundred yards away. That was fine for me, but the are lots of people who don’t have a blue badge who can’t walk that far.

I wonder if refusing to take cash is actually legal.

As I understand it, cash is the only defined legal tender as such in the UK and if offered in settlement must be accepted.

I don't think electronic means are.

Interesting point, Brian!

I looked it up.
You're partly right - but also wrong!

Legal tender does not have to be accepted if the vendor doesn't want it.

But if you offer to pay in legal tender, and the vendor refuses to accept it, they can't sue you for failing to pay.

Lots of interesting info here:

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/explainers/what-is-legal-tender

I'm finding what you're posting a little weird in the sense that you have either/or machines.

I'm pretty convinced that most of our car park machines can accept both credit cards and apps. At least OH pays by inserting his credit card, enters the car license number and the number of hours parking needed (if there is an option), while I see other people standing in front of the same machine, holding their smart phone and clicking, then immediately walking away.

There are only a few cash machine still around.

Our local supermarket has parking underneath, and is free. They don't seem to check cars for over-parking, so it is possible to park there, and shop along what is basically a "village main street". As the store is near a major cross roads, it is also often used as a short cut for motorists wanting to turn from one or other of the roads, especially during rush hour. It's a pity, but the store does have to have at least 2 entrance/exits.

Sylvia, to pay with credit/debit card the system uses 3G and the mobile companies are discontinuing this by 2024 so the machines will only take payment by an App which you have to download on your smartphone, but many folk still dont have a smartphone, that is the problem!

Infact, sorry, they wont need a machine as you pay on your phone whilst in your car. A camera then scans the car park and can tell who has or has not paid. You would get an instant fine for not paying.

Florence, the Pay Point for the Isle of Lewis (Yes, all of it!!) is in the Coop in Stornoway.

Oh really, ty , good to know. is that the big coop on macaulay rd or the little one in the town centre i wonder?

It would appear that both branches of the Coop have Paypoint

I don't understand how that works!

Do you park, then go to the paypoint and pay (assuming it's within walking distance) , by which time they think you haven't paid?

What happens if the paypoint isn't within walking distance of the carpark you want to park in?