New £1 Coin - Car Parks

plymouthimp

I've noticed that there are still loads of Car Parks that do not accept the new £1 coin. So therefore we are left with 2 choices:

1. Pay for parking with lots of change; or
2. Pay by Card over the phone.

What I've noticed in particular are the number of parking meters not accepting new 10p, new 20p and new 50p in addition to the £1 coin.


Secondly to this, I've also noticed that the car parking charges when paid for over the phone are more expensive - for example a 12-hour ticket at one car park in Plymouth is £2.50 but paid over the phone is £2.95.


My question is this; if the car parks are limiting the use of cash in their machines by not altering them to accept new coinage, is there legislation or rights in the fact that they are almost leading everyone to pay the more expensive card payment method?

angryparcel

plymouthimp wrote: »

I've noticed that there are still loads of Car Parks that do not accept the new £1 coin. So therefore we are left with 2 choices:

1. Pay for parking with lots of change; or
2. Pay by Card over the phone.

What I've noticed in particular are the number of parking meters not accepting new 10p, new 20p and new 50p in addition to the £1 coin.


Secondly to this, I've also noticed that the car parking charges when paid for over the phone are more expensive - for example a 12-hour ticket at one car park in Plymouth is £2.50 but paid over the phone is £2.95.


My question is this; if the car parks are limiting the use of cash in their machines by not altering them to accept new coinage, is there legislation or rights in the fact that they are almost leading everyone to pay the more expensive card payment method?

Nothing forcing them to change the machines, also they may have them on order as it is not just a case of flipping a switch to accept new coins

photome

Depending on the type of Coin mech they may or may not be upgradeable.

If they are upgradeable it would come at a cost and but would only take a few minutes to do, maybe they havent got round to it or maybe they are just not going to do it

angryparcel

all comes down to cost and no law says they have to accept certain coinage.

My question is this; if the car parks are limiting the use of cash in their machines by not altering them to accept new coinage,

so they don't accept new pound coins, i assume they still accept 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p coins, so you can still use cash

photome

angryparcel wrote: »

all comes down to cost and no law says they have to accept certain coinage.


so they don't accept new pound coins, i assume they still accept 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p coins, so you can still use cash

OP does say they don't accept new 10p, 20p and 50p although I don't remember any new 20p or50p in the last few years so not sure what he/she means

Most mechs won't accept 1p and 2p and some dont accept 5p.

as you say there won't be any legislation saying what coins have to b accepted

unholyangel

angryparcel wrote: »

all comes down to cost and no law says they have to accept certain coinage.


so they don't accept new pound coins, i assume they still accept 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p coins, so you can still use cash

Theres no law saying they have to accept certain coinage. But in England & Wales, there is a rule of law saying you can't be sued for non-payment of debt if you offer to pay in legal tender. £1 is legal tender for any amount.

Although I'll admit my response is tongue in cheek.

angryparcel

plymouthimp wrote: »

I've also noticed that the car parking charges when paid for over the phone are more expensive - for example a 12-hour ticket at one car park in Plymouth is £2.50 but paid over the phone is £2.95.

that is simple when you pay cash at a machine then that is all you pay, but paying over the phone you have to use a debit card or credit card which a charge is applied by the card processor. with DC it is usually a fixed fee of 40 to 60p and with CC it is from 2.9% to 3.4%., so this is why it will cost more over the phone

Geoff1963

Legal tender means you can't be sued for non-payment, if you offered it afterwards ; but it doesn't mean people have to accept any particular payment method, for something you haven't yet got. For instance, if it was a pay on exit, and you only had coins it wouldn't take ; you could probably leave without paying ( then deposit the money into a court, and e-mail the company to say what you'd done ). A bit unreasonable if it wouldn't let you leave, best to phone them.

The other scam is the no-change rule. They could say it is £1 an hour or £5 all day, but it only accepts £50 notes with no change.

unholyangel

Geoff1963 wrote: »

Legal tender means you can't be sued for non-payment, if you offered it afterwards ; but it doesn't mean people have to accept any particular payment method, for something you haven't yet got. For instance, if it was a pay on exit, and you only had coins it wouldn't take ; you could probably leave without paying ( then deposit the money into a court, and e-mail the company to say what you'd done ). A bit unreasonable if it wouldn't let you leave, best to phone them.

The other scam is the no-change rule. They could say it is £1 an hour or £5 all day, but it only accepts £50 notes with no change.

Which is part (but only part) of the reason it was tongue in cheek. As you imply, it depends on when the debt arises. For example at a petrol station, its when you pump the fuel into your car.

The other part of the reason it was tongue in cheek is because car parking operators often charge a sum much greater than the ticket price for any infraction of their parking conditions - such as parking without a valid ticket.

unforeseen

unholyangel wrote: »

Theres no law saying they have to accept certain coinage. But in England & Wales, there is a rule of law saying you can't be sued for non-payment of debt if you offer to pay in legal tender. £1 is legal tender for any amount.

Although I'll admit my response is tongue in cheek.

But at the point of trying to pay you are paying before a service. It only becomes a debt after you leave without paying.

So totally ignore the legal tender/debt myth

marlot

plymouthimp wrote: »

I've noticed that there are still loads of Car Parks that do not accept the new £1 coin. So therefore we are left with 2 choices:

1. Pay for parking with lots of change; or
2. Pay by Card over the phone....

Or the option I did, which was to visit the bank and buy a couple of bags of old £1 coins to keep in the car.