Newcastle City Council Parking Control
P.O. Box 2BL
Newcastle
NE99 2BL

9th May 2001

Dear Sir,

Following my experiences at Manors Multi-storey Car Park today, I thought I would write with some suggestions. I found myself needing over six hours' parking, yet equipped with only two pound coins, a five and a one pence. This left me with too much money for the £1.80 required for six hours and four pence less than the amount required for seven. Unfortunately, my fellow car park users were unable to supply an extra four pence to help me. I put my two pound coins into your machine and left the car park having bought less than my required parking time and having overpaid for it, since your machine did not give me change.

I am glad that I telephoned one of your colleagues at Parking Control and explained what had happened. The lady agreed to allow me the extra forty minutes that my extra twenty pence would have bought if the machine had charged pro rata. It struck me, during the telephone call, that there must be some ways in which the parking system could be improved to help people who find themselves in similar situations to mine. I can think of a few specific problems and a few possible solutions, I list these below and look forward to your comments on them.

• The machine does not give change, perhaps change-dispensing machines could be used instead.
• The machine only charges in whole hours, perhaps it could be made to charge pro rata after the first hour.
• It is not possible to top up the parking if you did not have enough money when leaving the car but could return in the middle of the day. Perhaps the machine could issue a card, rather than a ticket, which could be re-inserted for topping up.
• The machine only takes coins and not all coins which are in circulation at present.
• You have a facility for a car parking card, which I've not been able to buy anywhere. Could this card, or a credit card charging facility, not solve a number of problems?
• Perhaps Manors, which has the ideal entrance for a barrier system, could be converted so that you pay on exit, rather than pay and display.

It strikes me that a forward looking approach is required for parking. This is the year 2001, we have excellent technology available. Perhaps, by taking an innovative approach to solving parking problems, Newcastle can provide a good service and impression to its visitors for years to come.

Thank you for your attention, I look forward to your response to this feedback.

Yours faithfully,

Ashley Frieze