Lincoln council keeps £48k from unreturned parking change

City of Lincoln Council parking payment machines made £48,000 extra from unreturned change in one year.

The sum, collected from no-change machines in city council-run car parks in 2017, is almost £20,000 less than the amount taken in 2016.

Figures revealed through a Freedom of Information request showed drivers last year paid an excess of £48,110 through parking machines – out of the £3,428,587 made in total.

Some £69,145 was collected in unreturned change in 2016 – out of the £3,751,460 collected altogether.

In December 2016, the parking meters took £9,383 by not giving back change, which is the highest amount for a single month.

‘No change given’ parking meter at Lucy Tower car park.

The Lincolnite last reported on no-change car park collections in 2014, when the City of Lincoln Council had kept £67,000 from extra change.

The council explained the total decreased significantly last year due to an increase in the number of people maying card or over-the-phone payments.

Rod Williamson, City Services Team Leader at City of Lincoln Council, said: “The amount provided to us in over-vend has decreased significantly over recent years.

“This is because we have encouraged our customers to take advantage of the opportunities we provide to purchase parking tickets using debit card, credit card or Pay by Phone.

“The council fully understands any frustrations customers may have at times having to make an overpayment.

“This is why we encourage people to plan ahead and pay in advance, or by phone or card.

“Income we receive from parking is invested back into the service and we have recently opened our first pay-on-exit car park – Lincoln Central – which ensures customers only pay for the amount of time parked and machines dispense change.”

South Kesteven, East Lindsey, South Holland and Boston councils all told The Lincolnite that they do not keep information about excess money made by parking meters.

In West Lindsey, parking meters did not give back £3,899.85 in change to motorists in 2016 out of the £66,672.60 that was made in total.

Parking meters in North Kesteven charged motorists with an excess of £3,982.50 in 2016/2017 out of the £327,004.01 that was made in total.