Brighton and Hove parking meters reject new coins (From The Argus)
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Brighton and Hove parking meters reject new coins
12:30pm Monday 3rd September 2012 in News By Ben James
Parking meters in Brighton and Hove do not accept new 5p and 10p coins – because officials have not bothered telling the devices to take them.
Just 50 parking meters in the city accept card payments, meaning motorists have to carry up to £20 in change in their pockets to leave their vehicles in some areas.
But even after finding a mountain of silver with which to pay, the scores of council-run machines do not accept the most recently issued legal tender.
The Royal Mint introduced the new cheaper-to-produce coins at the start of the year in an attempt to save the taxpayer £8 million a year.
Although the new coins don’t look different, they are made of nickel-plated steel and are both 10% thicker – a difference of just 0.17 millimetres on the 5p.
A Treasury insider told The Argus that councils had been warned far in advance of the change and advised to re-calibrate their machines. He added: “There is really no excuse.”
Motoring lobbyist Steve Percy added: “If the council is going to charge sky-high rates then they should be reinvesting money in the service.
“They make it far too hard for drivers to pay. If you don’t have the correct change then you have no option but to put even more in and their machines don’t give out change. It’s madness.”
Adam Chinery, the owner of Brighton Watersports in Kings Road Arches, has spoken out against the council’s parking charge policy in the past. He said: “How many other ways does the council want to turn away business in Brighton?”
Solicitor David Richards, who specialises in motoring law, said that council parking rules tended to be very technical, making them hard to argue against.
He added: “As a result there is no straightforward way in which to appeal a fine for not having the right coins.
“However, it is possible that the parking adjudicator will decide in the motorist’s favour on the grounds of fairness.”
A council spokesman said: “Our parking machines do not accept the new 5p and 10p coins.
“We took this into account when setting the new tariffs we’ve brought in, with the result that all our tariffs can now be paid without having to use the new coins.
“We have put notices on all our machines asking people not to use the new coins, and we will be replacing the redundant coin slots as and when individual machines need servicing.
“We’re also looking to make things easier for residents by introducing more cashless payment options for parking, such as by card or by phone, over the next year or so.”
Comments(16)
Kate234
says...
12:45pm Mon 3 Sep 12
Fight_Back
says...
1:02pm Mon 3 Sep 12
What sort of idiotic statement is that !!!!
So once again this Green council show themselves to be either completely incompetent or very arrogant. With all the money they are raking in they should introduce cashless payments within the next two months not over a year or so. A single decent project manager with the required budget would easily get it done. The quicker we get rid of the Greens the better.
shining star
says...
1:04pm Mon 3 Sep 12
shining star
says...
1:07pm Mon 3 Sep 12
Fight_Back
says...
1:08pm Mon 3 Sep 12
Charismatic Andrew
says...
1:12pm Mon 3 Sep 12
....... this is a typical arrogant statement that the Council seems to constantly churn out these days where they seem to be making out that they are somehow doing us all a favour!
..... I can see it now .... in a few months time when meters only accept notes......
.... A council spokesman said: “Our parking machines do not accept coins. We took this into account when setting the new minimum £5 tariffs we’ve brought in, with the result that all our tariffs can now be paid without having to use coins."
Sussex jim
says...
2:16pm Mon 3 Sep 12
All to save a mere £8million? That's nothing in state expenditure terms.
Mark63
says...
3:45pm Mon 3 Sep 12
chrisinbrighton
says...
4:32pm Mon 3 Sep 12
Charismatic Andrew wrote:Parking meters will soon need to accept credit cards if the prices rise much more
“We took this into account when setting the new tariffs we’ve brought in, with the result that all our tariffs can now be paid without having to use the new coins."
....... this is a typical arrogant statement that the Council seems to constantly churn out these days where they seem to be making out that they are somehow doing us all a favour!
..... I can see it now .... in a few months time when meters only accept notes......
.... A council spokesman said: “Our parking machines do not accept coins. We took this into account when setting the new minimum £5 tariffs we’ve brought in, with the result that all our tariffs can now be paid without having to use coins."
Gaz the great
says...
6:30pm Mon 3 Sep 12
fred clause
says...
8:25pm Mon 3 Sep 12
Idontbelieveit1948
says...
8:51pm Mon 3 Sep 12
Cashless payments - make it free then, saves all this sodding about with money and brings the visitors back to Brighton.
NickBrt
says...
11:02pm Mon 3 Sep 12
Dealing with idiots
says...
8:15am Tue 4 Sep 12
F in L
says...
5:09pm Wed 5 Sep 12
Dealing with idiots wrote:I fear it is too late for Brighton. We have too many of the ex students, hippies, cyclists and unemployable now. We will look back and think, bad as they are, these were the best of times.
Could the Argus please have a counter on the front page of the paper every day showing a countdown to the next local election. That way we can see how long we have to wait until the green administration is thrown out of power.
Pebbles says...
12:44pm Mon 3 Sep 12
Total and complete utter arogance!