No-change parking meters make extra £300,000 a year in Cornwall
There are no good news stories in parking charges for local government. They have a really negative impact on rural service centres – this article tells us:
Cornwall Council has defended the use of no-change parking meters after it emerged it collected an additional £300,000 from machines in a year.
Information provided by the council, following a Freedom of Information request, shows that £11.6 million was collected in parking fees in 2011/12 overall, with £307,293 sourced from an “over-vend”.
Run by a Liberal Democrat-Independent coalition, the council confirmed that it would not be stocking the 250 machines with increased amounts of change, citing possible vandalism and lack of funds.
The council said in a statement: “In Cornwall, there are over 250 pay and display machines in locations from Bude to Porthcurnow and if these machines gave change there would have to be a mechanism to ensure they were continually stocked with sufficient change and to address the situation if they were not.
“The logistical problems of doing this would be great and would result in a high cost. The ‘base level’ of change would also be left in the machines at all times making them much more prone to vandalism and theft.