Lancashire street's parking signs cause confusion after drivers are told to call the wrong number to pay
The error was made on three parking information plates on Pitt Street in Preston – in the shadow of the authority’s own headquarters at County Hall.
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Hide AdCharging was introduced at the location for the first time last year when a new pay and display system was installed.
Payment options include the traditional purchase of a ticket with cash or the use of an app.
The full range of methods is correctly detailed on the pay and display machines themselves, but the roadside signage advising motorists how long they can park also points them towards a “pay by phone” option.
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Hide AdHowever, anybody following the instructions on those signs in order to use that service will have been confronted with a message telling them that the number they have called is not recognised and asking them to dial again.
Yet no matter how often they try, their call will never be connected – because a digit has inadvertently been missed off the plates.
The county council says that it will rectify the signs – which are attached to lampposts alongside the on-street parking bays – after it was brought to the authority’s attention by a driver who received a penalty charge for leaving his vehicle without paying when he was unable to get through on the phone.
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Hide AdThe motorist, who did not want to be named, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “After the first couple of goes, I just thought I must have misdialed, because I was in a rush – but then I presumed that there must have been a problem with the line.
“I didn’t have any change on me to pay in cash and, in the panic that I was going to be late for a meeting, I never dreamed of going over to one of the machines to see if the phone number there matched up with the sign in front of me.
“If I had done that, I’ve since discovered that I would have found out that there was also a credit card option and an app – but I just assumed that the cash or call options on the lamppost sign were the only possibilities. I probably should drag myself into the digital age.
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Hide Ad“I’ve got no problem with paying the penalty charge – that was the risk I took by leaving the car knowing that I hadn’t bought a ticket.
“It’s easy to make mistakes, especially with numbers – but you always just take it for granted that roadsigns are correct.”
A spokesperson for Lancashire County Council said of the error: “We’re very sorry that the phone number given for people to pay for their parking on these signs is wrong – we will get them corrected as soon as possible. However, the phone number on the actual pay and display machine is correct.
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Hide Ad“In addition to pay by phone, there are a number of alternatives available, which are to pay by cash or card at the pay and display machine, or by downloading the RingGo app.”
Until the pay and display system was introduced, Pitt Street was a mixture of free parking and double yellow lines where parking was not permitted.
County Hall brought in the charges – and a maximum four-hour stay – between 8am and 6pm every day in order to increase the turnover of vehicles and to accommodate more people visiting the city centre.
The street had also previously been the scene of double parking and drivers leaving their vehicles in restricted areas.