I WAS interested to see recent references in your correspondence relating to Wiltshire’s aggressive parking strategy and its consequences.
Having tickets for a concert in Salisbury on Friday last, and not knowing the city, we decided to come in on Thursday afternoon to see where the venue was, where we could park and where we might get a meal before the performance. We found the central car park and paid for an hour. In fact, I paid a bit more than the hourly rate, not having the exact change required.
Unfortunately, due to unfamiliarity with the city and also to the awful weather, we returned a few minutes later than expected; just in time to see an operative walking away from our car, having left a fixed penalty notice which revealed that the vehicle had been "observed" in place 12 minutes after the expiry time on the ticket.
Ok, we'd overstayed slightly, but with no intention of doing so, and I would have thought a little leeway could have been applied, as happens elsewhere.
After all, I had paid more than the hourly fee, and give and take should surely work both ways.
The wider problem, of course, is that such precipitate action is counter-productive, in that it has discouraged us from hurrying back.
Somebody representing Salisbury tourism really should have a word with Wiltshire parking services about that.
Ian Vargeson, Dereham
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