Parking deal for Coventry workers scrapped

[dutchman]

A cheap parking deal for workers in Coventry city centre has been scrapped because of problems with new ticket machines.

The £10 weekly parking ticket – which saves workers more than £30 a week – has had to be stopped because new high-tech machines do not have the correct software to offer them.

Coventry City Council has installed new machines along roads in the city centre and in car parks.

But as old ticket machines and barriers have been replaced at each car park, the £10 ticket will now be withdrawn from today.

It comes two months after the Telegraph reported the popular weekly ticket tariff was being extended amid much fanfare, after being introduced last year.

Coun Lynnette Kelly, cabinet member for city development, said: “It’s been withdrawn for now.

“We have new ticket machines being brought in. When we got in touch with the people who installed them they said ‘oh, we haven’t got the software for that’.

“It’s annoying because they did say they would be able to get the software update in time.”

The tickets, which people can purchase from payment machines, were available in five car parks: Bishop Street, Gosford Street, Grove Street, Whitefriars Street and New Union Street.

The city council insists the £10 tickets will be temporarily re-introduced on January 21 – once the software has been upgraded – before a final decision is made on whether it should continue.

The new parking machines will enable the council to monitor how often office staff make use of the £10 tickets and whether it encourages greater city centre footfall at weekends.

Coun Kelly – who said she learned about the withdrawal of the £10 ticket on Thursday – added: “It was only ever intended as temporary to boost our car parks. We will be bringing this back in January. It’s a temporary blip on a temporary offer.

“The £10 ticket doesn’t benefit shoppers, it benefits workers.

“I think people will understand it’s been temporarily shut down.”

[rebbonk]

“I think people will understand...

I think people will see an incompetent council!