Coventry City Council pays 46p to post driver's 20p change

[dutchman]

A motorist who asked a Coventry car park attendant for 20p change was flabbergasted when she was told it would be posted to her.



Lorraine Artless had parked up in the Barracks car park, in Coventry city centre, on Wednesday to do some shopping.

When she went to pay the £1.80 for her two-hour spell the machine didn’t give her any change from her £2 coin.

In the past parking attendants have happily doled out a few pence in the event of a machine malfunction.

But on this occasion the attendant refused to hand her a 20p piece, instead asking for her name and address so the cash could be posted to her.

When Lorraine pointed out that even the cost of a second class stamp would be more than the 20p she was told that the money had to be sent out – because it’s their policy.

Now Lorraine, of Joseph Creighton Close, Ernesford Grange, believes the wasteful practice should be stopped.

She said: “When I couldn’t get the change I was a little frustrated.

“It’s only 20p, but at times like these everyone needs to look after the pennies.

“It is mine after all and there’s no reason why I shouldn’t have it.

“But when I told the attendant what had happened he asked for my name and address and said that it will be posted to me.

“I said that was a ludicrous thing to do and that it would be much easier to just pay me the 20p.

“It’s 46p for a first class stamp and 36p for a second class stamp, so however my 20p is sent it’s going to cost a lot more than the original sum. I couldn’t believe it.

“I did give them my name and address but so far I haven’t received my 20p – so they’re a little late in that respect.

“My husband just couldn’t believe the whole ridiculous situation. I use the car park maybe a couple of times a week and I’ve been doing that for 10 years. I’m not sure whether I’ll go back now though.”

The problems come after the 1960s car park received a £1.5million refurbishment after experts warned that it wouldn’t survive the winter.

More recently it was shut for three weeks in March for repair work.

A spokesman for Coventry City Council said: “While there are some good accounting reasons for making sure all money refunded is properly logged, it clearly does not make sense to be spending more on administration and postage than the cost of the refund.

“We will now be changing this way of working.

“We are always looking for more efficient ways of working and we thank Mrs Artless for raising this anomaly.”

[StevieG]

"We are always looking for more efficient ways of working"