Pay & Display machine out of use

medders2604

Hi all,

Apologies if this has been asked before.

Is there a maximum distance allowed between pay and display parking spaces and the nearest working machine?

Only ask as a machine in Preston earlier was out of use and covered over with the nearest machine a good 5 mins walk away with no parking spaces closer to the machine.

I am back there again tomorrow so dreading the great ticket machine and parking space near each other search again.

Thanks in advance

DaveF327

Unfortunately, there are no regulations about this. In theory, enforcement officers are supposed to give a certain grace period between seeing your ticketless car and booking you (to give you time to buy the ticket and display it) but I would not rely on this.

Officially, the safest thing to do - and a great pain in the bum - would be to drive to the working ticket machine, check for wardens, stop your car anywhere while you run to it and buy your ticket, then drive to the empty space. It's pretty much the only way you can avoid a penalty.

Another thing to consider is that the ticket from the machine at that location covers the location you parked. You can get a fine for using the wrong machine so check for any notices on the covered machine.