A weekly newspaper has revealed the thousands of pounds overpaid by motorists parking in public car parks without the correct change.
The Westmorland Gazette has uncovered that the Lake District National Park Authority gained an estimated income of £14,486 from its 16 car parks in 2009/10 – none of which dispense change.
Reporter Steven Bell discovered the high rate of overpayments by drivers after submitting a Freedom of Information request on how much it received from car park overpayments.
The authority said the time it would take to find the exact figure would exceed the appropriate limit it is bound by under the FoI Act but was able to provide a ‘reasonable estimate’ based on figures for one car park.
At the Hawkshead car park, it was revealed that 1.3pc of the £110,000 income for the year was overpayments by motorists without the right change, meaning the organisation gained an extra £1,470 from it.
Based on this information, the authority estimated that combined overpayments for all 16 car parks in 2009/10 was £14,486.
David Coxon, operations manager at the Lake District National Park Authority, said it did not operate meters that give change because of cost and security reasons.
He said: “As with all car park charges, overpayments go back into running the authority — not just parking but other areas such as toilets and staffing. When we budget for the year, the top line includes that overpayment.”
The authority added 14 of its car parks allowed drivers to pay for their parking by telephone and 11 offered the option of card payments.
It estimated the overpayments were £13,232 in 2008/09 and £13,990 in 2007/08, while it is expecting overpayments of £15,023 for 2010/11.
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I wonder if the story acknowledged that you can also pay by phone at all the Lake District car parks – so you don’t have to overpay since the system sends you a reminder and you can top up your parking fee.
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Re Davy Gravy’s comment – not everyone wants to, or indeed is able – to set up an account using a mobile phone and hand over their bank details over the phone to someone they do not know. The elderly, in particular, can find these things horrendously complicated. As do I sometimes. So full marks to the Westmorland Gazzette.
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davy gravy: can you not read? “The authority added 14 of its car parks allowed drivers to pay for their parking by telephone and 11 offered the option of card payments.”
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@FOI Junkie. Ooh, err….good point, well made. Former news editor, just read intro and scan rest. No excuse etc. Thanks
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Well done Davy for apology. I, too, got bored after intro, other papers have run similar stories so nothing new, but scrolled down to comments and then read the piece. By the way, Helen, second par, ‘none of which dispense change’. ‘None’ is singular; it is short for ‘not one’, therefore should have read ‘none (not one) of which dispenses change’. A common mistake which, sadly, means that ‘none’ taking plural is becoming acceptable except to Old Grumpy Fart Mumpsimus.
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