Car Parking Scams

Beyond the supermarkets and oil companies (at their petrol stations) there is another source of scam which is better hidden; less obvious until you stop to think about it.

How much do you pay for parking? We all use parking places and car parks and most of us are pretty alert to the myriad, complex and inconsistent restrictions which affect us when so doing. The nature of parking difficulties these days allows the providers to rip us off and many miss no opportunity.

The most obvious technique is where tariffs are for odd amounts but the machine gives no change. Here they are counting on people having no change and resignedly inserting a large coin thus leaving extra profit for the provider. How many times do they receive £1 for a 60p or 70p charge?

There is no reason, no reason at all in this computerised age, why providers should not use per minute charging and yet I have seen this only once on a recent European holiday. Instead they choose to charge in large blocks of time so that if you park, for example, for 2 hours and 2 mins, you pay the 3-6 hour tariff. A nice little earner as they say.

Hotels have now started routinely and openly charging for their parking although it is not clear in many cases how you would reach the hotel without a car. Whilst I am sure that the facility would in any case be included in the room rate there is no need to gerrymander the accommodation charge and bill parking separately. The cost can be a nominal £3 a night or so but at London’s County Hall Marriott for example (the last time we stayed) it was an eye-watering £30.

Finally, one more recent wheeze thought up no doubt by some company’s Revenue Maximisation Manager. In many service area car parks now are displayed prominent notices exhorting one to ‘pay by phone’ and providing helpful details on how to do so. This is a great one for catching out our foreign visitors as it is much less obvious on the notices that the first two hours is still free – so that the majority of people need never pay such a charge. I imagine from the insidious spread of these notices that the revenue generated is enough to cover cost of the signs for a fee most of us do not need to pay.

Always be alert for people trying to take your money and do everything legal to stop them. It pays to think.