Marathon Man
Registered User
- Messages
- 176
I had an interesting incident at the City Hall (Cork) cark park last Saturday.
I parked there intending staying for 1 hour. I was in the City Hall itself and watching the time and made it back to the slot m/c with two minutes to spare. However the m/c was charging for two hours, so I cancelled and set off to see the guy manning the security desk.
After a (good natured) discussion he agreed to waive the second hour, but explained that he would have to log it, or there would be a shortfall.
I'm not happy with what I discovered though: When you drive in and get your ticket, the time is stamped on it. What do you normally do? I put it on the dash, drive on and park. Once I've parked, I take the ticket and put it in my wallet, checking the time on it.
According to the QPark guy, I should have checked the time on the ticket AND my watch immediately I got the ticket, so see what difference there was. I don't know anyone who does this. Btw, I do a daily timecheck on my watch.
This is nub of the issue: According to the QPark guy, all the QPark computers are networked, and the time is set annually........but it was actually 6 minutes fast.
So the car park exit m/c is 6 minutes ahead of my watch. I have no way of knowing this. The ticket said 14:52, I arrived at 15:50 and QParks computer said 15:58! In other words, if you arrive back with 6 minutes or less left on your ticket, you will be charged for an additional hour, even though you are inside the time. ...and this apparently, applies to all QPark, car parks around the country.
This is potentially a nice little earner for the cark park beneficiaries - two hours income for the "cost" of 1!
Anyone know if these car park computer systems are governed by Weights & Measures regulations? In any case Sale of Goods act applies, so 1 hour from the time of ticket stamp applies, irrespective of what the computer says.
I parked there intending staying for 1 hour. I was in the City Hall itself and watching the time and made it back to the slot m/c with two minutes to spare. However the m/c was charging for two hours, so I cancelled and set off to see the guy manning the security desk.
After a (good natured) discussion he agreed to waive the second hour, but explained that he would have to log it, or there would be a shortfall.
I'm not happy with what I discovered though: When you drive in and get your ticket, the time is stamped on it. What do you normally do? I put it on the dash, drive on and park. Once I've parked, I take the ticket and put it in my wallet, checking the time on it.
According to the QPark guy, I should have checked the time on the ticket AND my watch immediately I got the ticket, so see what difference there was. I don't know anyone who does this. Btw, I do a daily timecheck on my watch.
This is nub of the issue: According to the QPark guy, all the QPark computers are networked, and the time is set annually........but it was actually 6 minutes fast.
So the car park exit m/c is 6 minutes ahead of my watch. I have no way of knowing this. The ticket said 14:52, I arrived at 15:50 and QParks computer said 15:58! In other words, if you arrive back with 6 minutes or less left on your ticket, you will be charged for an additional hour, even though you are inside the time. ...and this apparently, applies to all QPark, car parks around the country.
This is potentially a nice little earner for the cark park beneficiaries - two hours income for the "cost" of 1!
Anyone know if these car park computer systems are governed by Weights & Measures regulations? In any case Sale of Goods act applies, so 1 hour from the time of ticket stamp applies, irrespective of what the computer says.