"Key in Your Car Registration Correctly to Avoid..."

I have serious concerns about the Acre Mill overflow car parking arrangements and I hope these issues can be addressed when the car parking machine is replaced.

1. There are inconsistencies in charging policy between this overflow site and the main site outside the hospital. In the latter there is a period of free car parking whilst in the former you have to pay a minimum £2.50.

2. The signage within the car park. There are directions as to where to pay but they are not sufficiently prominent. On the one sign at the entrance to the car park the directions are placed near the base of a large board set to the left of a driver’s line of sight as one drives in. The directions are written in a font smaller than the font of the rest of the notice. It is as though they are intended to be missed. If one does not see the directions on arrival and proceeds to park there appears to be no other notice facing the driver to indicate where to pay. There is no notice on the face of the building itself, for example.

3. The location of the car parking ticketing machine. Why in the building?

4. The location of the ticking machine within the building. The machine is sited directly opposite some east facing windows resulting in a significant amount of glare which can obstruct the visibility of the ticket machine’s screen on a bright morning.

5. The design of the machine. The characters on the keyboard of the ticketing machine are very small and set at some distance below the machine’s screen making errors in typing a vehicle’s registration number highly likely as one has to shift ones gaze from screen to keyboard over a long distance.

6. Parking Terms and conditions. The fine imposed is a punitive £60. There is no notice warning the public that precision in keying in the registration number is absolutely essential if one is to avoid a fine.

7. Furthermore there seems to be no corrective action that can be taken once the ticket is issued other than waiting for the Parking Charge Notice 28 days later and the risk rejection of the subsequent appeal.