A tax on stupidity!
By Fleur
@Fleura (34925)
United Kingdom
August 18, 2022 4:37pm CST
Yesterday I was taking the girls and a couple of friends to the swimming pool. The parking area nearby requires a ticket (even for the free 1 hour you are allowed – I have fallen for that before and got a fine!)
But as I pulled in I realised I didn’t have much change with me to pay for the parking. So as we all got our stuff out of the car I sent Big One ahead to look at the machine and see what it said about charges. She returned and told me it was £1.50 for up to two hours, so since I only had three £1 coins I asked her to run to the pool and ask the staff if they could give us some change.
Of course she just dawdled along there, so while we were waiting I thought I may as well at least wait by the machine, and when I got there I could see that in any case it said ‘card payments only’ so I didn’t need change after all.
So I paid for a ticket for my car and when Big One dawdled back and said no, they wouldn’t give change (as expected), I already had the ticket so I asked her if she would go back to the car and put it on the windscreen while I took the others in so they could start getting ready.
She did as requested and got back just as I was ushering the others in to the changing room, thinking we were all set – but then she whispered that I had entered the wrong number!
As it happened my car was at the garage getting a spring replaced, so I had borrowed my partner’s car. But the parking ticket machine is the type where you have to enter your registration (licence plate) number, and without thinking I had automatically entered my own number!
I knew I wouldn’t get away with that, the car parks are regularly checked and they would think I had picked up someone else’s discarded ticket to avoid paying! So I had to hurry back and buy a second ticket with the correct number on. I put the extra £1.50 down to a ‘stupidity tax’. At least Big One had noticed, otherwise I might have received a £40 fine!
On the bright side, after our swim Big One found a £1 coin on the floor of the changing room, and since no-one was around I kept that towards the parking cost, so it only cost 50p extra after all : )
All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2022.
11 people like this
8 responses
@BarBaraPrz (51811)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
18 Aug 22
Do disabled people get to park free (if they have a proper permit displayed)?
2 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (51811)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
19 Aug 22
@Fleura And of course that is a private car park.
1 person likes this
@Fleura (34925)
• United Kingdom
19 Aug 22
@BarBaraPrz The one I was in was one of the town ones run by the local council.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (174237)
• United States
18 Aug 22
I would consider that cheap for parking in any of the nearby large cities... Of course, in my small city, they can't get away with charging us for parking, yet. But while we have a public swimming pool, it's not open again this year due to Covid concerns.
We used to spend a lot of time at the lake about 40 minutes from home but all the parking areas there are closed except for boating traffic. Since we don't own a boat, we can't park there and swim like we used to. 
1 person likes this
@Fleura (34925)
• United Kingdom
19 Aug 22
Yes the cost is not too high, although of course it adds to the cost of the swim. Up to this year it was two hours free, which was a big incentive to go there as two hours is enough time to get round a few shops, one hour is only really enough to rush round maybe two places if you know exactly what you want, and walk to and from the car.
@DaddyEvil (174237)
• United States
19 Aug 22
@Fleura I can't afford to take up boating. I lost my job a year and a half ago due to my allergies. I just hired an attorney to see if they can get my disability payments started...
1 person likes this
@much2say (57760)
• Los Angeles, California
19 Aug 22
Argh - but better to make the small extra contribution than having to pay the generous size contribution 
. We visit a college with a similar pay for parking system where we have to punch in our license plates . . . but often I forget what the license plate number is and have to run back to the car to check 
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. We visit a college with a similar pay for parking system where we have to punch in our license plates . . . but often I forget what the license plate number is and have to run back to the car to check .1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
21 Aug 22
sounds a horribly complicated parking system @Fleura
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
21 Aug 22
@Fleura makes me glad I don't drive - well done
@Fleura (34925)
• United Kingdom
19 Aug 22
Yes, same here. Once when little One was really little and we had a dog, it was a real struggle to get everything out of the car because I had to put the push-chair in the back seat since the dog was in the back, and the parking spaces are really narrow so it was difficult to get it out since I could only open the door a little bit. And in all the kerfuffle I forgot to get a ticket and was fined £40, very annoying!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381810)
• Rockingham, Australia
20 Aug 22
@Fleura A nice relatively new innovation here is the provision of a few wider bays for 'cars with prams'. In some places the bays are really narrow and so many now have big 4WD cars which make parking difficult and opening doors hazardous.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (97908)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
19 Aug 22
That can be very confusing if you have someone else's car I am glad it all finally worked out for you,Finding that pound on the floor was great luck,
1 person likes this
