Drivers in Ayr have been hit with £50 parking fines because of “faulty” ticket machines.
Ayrshire Roads Alliance (ARA) confirmed that a “small percentage of machines” had connection issues which prevented drivers from validating the two-hour free parking window in Ayr town centre.
A number of motorists have taken to social media to complain about the faulty machines which have seen some hit with fines they claim were not reversed on appeal.
Since January 2024, motorists in Ayr have been entitled to two hours of free parking in the town centre following an initiative by South Ayrshire Council.
Businesses have also been affected with customers staying away to avoid a potential fine or being forced to pay out to cover the cost of the fines.
Bill Briceland is one motorist who came back to his car to find a parking fine despite having registered his licence plate number at a ticket machine.
Speaking to Ayrshire Live he said: “I put a post on Facebook and I’ve had about 30 replies from people who have had the same problem. It is quite a big issue and these are only the ones we know about.
“On Thursday [February 6], I was parked for 1 hr 45 mins and there was a parking ticket on my car.
“I lodged an appeal with Ayrshire Roads Alliance but it was rejected as they said there was no record of my car being registered on the system.
“The first machine that I tried wouldn’t accept my registration number. The second machine accepted my registration number and I pressed the green button to confirm.
“Seemingly you should get the option to get a receipt but it never happened in this case.”
KW Cleaning Services also received a fine when parking in the town centre for less than two hours one weekend.
Kirsty from KW Cleaning said: “We work on the Sandgate every morning cleaning restaurants and we were given a ticket one Saturday even though I put my registration.
“I do [put my registration in] everyday as the wardens are never far away. I have appealed this but heard nothing back so far.
“The machines had been playing up all that week and taking longer than normal to process. There was even a guy out fixing it telling me not to use it.”
ARA have said that the issues have centred around internet connections and machines “periodically” not connecting to the servers to allow drivers to validate the free parking period.
Fixes have been installed with new 4G SIMS but the system is not “infallible” and ARA say fines issued as a result of faulty machinery will be cancelled on appeal.
A spokesperson for the Ayrshire Roads Alliance said: “The ticket machines have been successfully reconfigured to accommodate the two hours free parking which has been in operation since January 2024. Initially we identified a small percentage of machines which, periodically, appeared to have issues contacting the server to register free parking sessions.
“The server issues appear to have been resolved by upgrading to 4G SIMS, however no system is infallible 100 per cent of the time and where faulty equipment is established as an underlying cause for receiving a penalty charge, subsequent appeals are accepted.
“We continue to monitor the ticket machines to ensure functionality and we encourage feedback through various means such as the recently completed two hours free parking consultation which generated a very positive response towards the use of the ticket machines.
“There have been instances where drivers are not registering vehicles correctly, so there is also a helpful video user guide giving a step by step demonstration of the registration process contained on our website.”
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