‘Confusing’ city parking tariff blasted as ‘money making’ trap

A consumer and motoring disputes expert has blasted the “confusing” parking tariffs which are catching out drivers at Gloucester Docks.

Doug Forbes was hit with a £80 parking charge while visiting the city earlier this month.

He paid to park for three hours but because he bought his ticket just before 6pm when an evening charge regime kicked in it was only valid for seven minutes.

However, Scott Dixon says the problem has been known for years and has been widely reported with reviews left on Parkopedia dating back to January 2020.

He says the signage displaying the prices is confusing and misleading.

“The sign shows prices under a day tariff from 7am to 6pm and the evening tariff from 6pm to 7am with unlimited parking for £1.50,” he said.

“Mr Forbes rightly paid for three hours on the day tariff and the reason why the ticket only gave him seven mins up to 6pm is because the machine wrongly separates payments made by cash over the day and evening tariff.

“The payments can be made across both day and evening tariffs via the app but not by cash.

“Nowhere does it state on that sign that any ticket bought before 6pm will only be valid until 6pm. If tickets bought before 6pm suddenly become invalid at 6pm, that should be clearly stated on the sign.

“He paid £2.50 which is the advertised rate for three hours parking as stated on the sign for the time period in which he arrived at the car park.”

Mr Dixon says it is not clear for users who pay the higher tariff before 6pm and put in sufficient money to cover more hours at the cheaper evening tariff.

“Do they expect someone to return to the car park to buy another ticket at 6.01pm if they park a few minutes earlier? This has been done deliberately to raise revenue.

“This is clearly a trap that is known by the private parking operator as they issued an invoice on his windscreen for an alleged breach of contract immediately after 6pm – and have patrols to catch people out on this scam.

“The software in the machines should be set up to account for that and not to cut off the time at 6pm. Their machines can, and should, be set up to take account of the charges no matter when the ticket was bought.

“The signage in this case was inadequate to form a contract for consumers to make an informed decision and does not meet the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

“The Consumer Rights Act 2015 has a fairness test as the sign forms part of the contract and terms and conditions that you are entering into. Any term that unfairly tilts the balance in favour of the trader to the detriment of the consumer is invalid.”

A spokesperson for Gloucester City Council said Southgate Moorings Car Park operates two tariffs, a daytime rate until 6pm and an evening rate from 6pm until 7am.

“Customers can pay for both the daytime and evening rate at the same time at the machine if they intend to stay beyond 6pm. This information is displayed on the machine to explain the different charges.

“The ‘Just Park’ app allows customers to pay for the daytime and evening rate in one transaction for their stay.”

By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter

Gloucester News Centre – http://gloucesternewscentre.co.uk