Car Park Ticket Machines

johndtay
johndtay Community Member Posts: 48 Contributor
in Everyday life

How many people find car park ticket machines accessible? I have just seen one near where I used to be. That never should have been installed or even potentially made.

For a ticket machine, you’d expect everything to low down and accessible. How many now want a car reg plate. So many of these machines have displays which a lot of people can’t use. Now, I know NCP are in financial issues. They seem to have installed ticket machines in Westgate in Oxford which even for the normal user is hard.

Just to make you aware, with the Oxford Congestion charge in force, you have to pay that as well. I know there are others which don’t consider the user. Do you think it’s an area which needs to be looked at by someone like Department of Transport, so there is legislation forcing the use of a universal machine design.

Comments

  • 66Mustang
    66Mustang Community Member Posts: 15,485 Championing
    edited May 31

    I parked in a car park a few months ago when it had snowed, I tried paying for a ticket but the machine wasn't working. There was another machine 300 yards away but I didn't feel able to go there on my own due to my mental health issues; the person accompanying me suffered from arthritis and I didn't feel it reasonable to make them walk with me on the ice. There was a pay-by-phone option but I can't use the phone; the person accompanying me can but struggles with any modern tech related stuff/apps etc.

    I didn't pay and got a ticket after 7 minutes (not sure if that's right - thought there was a grace period?) which I appealed and that was rejected till I submitted evidence (diagnosis letters and PIP award) at which point they cancelled the ticket on a 2nd appeal

    The ticket was only for £25 so I could see a lot of people just paying up. It was quite a formal process with mildly intimidating warnings about escalating fines and court and stuff. Fortunately for me, for all my anxieties r.e. daily life, I'm blessed with finding stuff like this quite fun and a bit of a game, but I can see lots struggling with it

  • Rachel_Scope
    Rachel_Scope Posts: 4,226 Online Community Team

    The only place I have seen an accessible ticket machine is at the hospital. Pay by phone or by app is great for those who can do that but not for those who can't. What's annoying too is that every car park seems to use a different parking app! I wonder if they even consider accessibility when designing them?

    Good on you for fighting that ticket @66Mustang.

  • happywomantoday
    happywomantoday Community Member Posts: 6 Listener

    i parked at a car park and bought a ticket, and then a year later i got a parking fine. i drove into another car park and could not find a space on another occaion, and then i got a parking ticket from the same company. and then i got another parking ticket from the same parking company when i was 40 miles away on the day from the car park and the image was the same image as the one they fined me for driving in and out. i was so worried about the tickets because all together they wanted over £800. i kept on appealing and they were not interested. thankfully i found this solicitor who takes on cases for free and they parking company wiped all the fines. so my advice is, always keep your parking tickets for at least 12 months.

  • Rachel_Scope
    Rachel_Scope Posts: 4,226 Online Community Team

    That sounds so stressful @happywomantoday! I'm glad you were able to get it sorted out.

  • 66Mustang
    66Mustang Community Member Posts: 15,485 Championing

    @Rachel_Scope

    I wonder if it's one of those areas where it's cheaper for the parking company to just forgive people the ticket, rather than invest into accessibility.

    Often, investment is made into accessibility even when the limited number of disabled customers means not recouping that investment. Companies opt to make that loss for moral/legal/public image reasons.

    With a product, or a service like a bus/train/library, that seems valid as its's unfair to exclude somebody from the facility. With parking tickets, if they decide not to spend money on making the payment system accessible but instead just let disabled people off of buying a ticket it could well be cheaper for all parties… and insofar as discrimination, an instance where the affected individuals are quite happy to be excluded?

    I guess it would be more complex than that because it would risk comparing different disabilities and creating a new inequality of disabled people who have to pay (because they're able to work the machine) and disabled people who don't

  • Rachel_Scope
    Rachel_Scope Posts: 4,226 Online Community Team

    That's a really interesting point @66Mustang. It seems a shame that some companies don't see accessibility as something that should be taken into account but I guess it's all about money.

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