Council Car Park Exit Barrier Open

fm950384

Hi all, long time listener, first time caller here.
There is a car park that is run by the local council near to the train station, which is pay on exit. Ive parked here a few times in the last month and each time the exit barrier is raised, as if broken.
I have watch people return to their cars and drive off without paying, but as it uses an ANPR system, I've never had the bottle and pay before leaving.
I was wondering what are your thoughts on this and should I risk it next time I park there?
Cheers,
Adam

LDast

If it is definitely a council run car park then please ask your question over on the Free Traffic Legal Advice forum, council parking section: https://ftla.uk

Brie

Didn't think councils were allowed to use ANPR systems.  Which of course would mean there's no point in paying as they won't know how long you were there potentially.  Unless of course there's a plod going about and taking pictures of the cars one by one.

Coupon-mad

They are allowed to use ANPR for data (usage) stats and to help the payment system to work efficiently & help drivers, e.g. such a system might use the ANPR capture to display the VRM at the pay-point and calculate the tariff properly.

They aren't allowed to use ANPR for PCN issue or enforcement. So in a Council car park you can only get a windscreen PCN.

I once helped a colleague's son who'd used a Horsham Council car park with ANPR and a barrier and he thought the barrier being up on several days, sporadically, meant the system was suspended and he didn't think he had to pay on those days.

Pretty dumb (one might think) but he was a young kid and he's neuro-diverse. It didn't click that he was doing anything wrong. He did it maybe 20 times and in the end he got a pretty aggressive letter from the Council listing all the payments he owed, which I wasn't convinced was fair. They'd waited 6 months while he kept making the same mistake, oblivious.  

It was far too nasty and threatening in its language and he was scared witless!

I felt they should have alerted him sooner and more politely, but at least they weren't trying to get PCNs. I think my colleague helped him explain his cognitive disability and he made an offer.

Anyway: the bottom line is, if you must use any P&D car park (I almost never do) always pay the fair fee to park. We don't have a problem with reasonable parking tariffs on this forum.