Sand Street parking problem provokes payment pain

Tuesday 14 January 2020

Islanders who have “made a genuine attempt to pay” for their parking at the Sand Street multi-storey, whilst the machine is out of order will not be fined, the government has promised.

The machine has not been accepting credit or debit card payments for almost two weeks, with motorists being instructed to call a separate phoneline to pay for their parking.

Following islanders flocking to social media complaining about the busy phone line, a government spokesperson confirmed that the machine has not been able to accept credit or debit card payments since 2 January.

However, Express understands that Sand Street was also experiencing issues with processing card payments ahead of the Christmas period when people were being advised to purchase ‘uni-tickets’ from the nearby Tesco Alliance.

Pictured: The car park has been experiencing technical difficulties with its payment machine.

The government says that the fault was caused, “...by an error with the merchant provider which processes credit and debit card payments at Sand Street.”

When asked by Express what interim measures have been taken whilst the issue is being resolved, the spokesperson responded: “The opening hours of the Parking Control office at Sand Street have been extended to 08:00 – 17:30, Monday to Friday, to allow drivers to pay in person. We have also doubled the number of staff working at Sand Street.”

Yet, only two members of staff are manning the phone line to take payments that way. 

It’s hoped that the issues will be resolved this week, and the government says that although there isn’t an official ‘grace period’ whilst the machine is out of service they will be lenient: “Customers can make payment over the phone. Where the line is busy drivers can leave a message, and staff can call them back in order to take payment. Where are a customer has made a genuine attempt to pay, excess charge notices will not be issued.” 

Pictured: Drivers are being advised to either pay over the phone, at the office or purchase a UniTicket.

Paul Gibaut, Parking Control Manager said: “We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused for drivers. We are working closely with our merchant provider to restore the service; we hope to resolve the issue this week. In the meantime, we have doubled the number of staff working on-site at Sand Street, and have two staff taking payment via phone.

“While we understand that this may make it more time-consuming to make a payment, we urge drivers to work with our staff to make their payment in full. Drivers can also purchase 5 or 10 unit UniTickets with their shopping to make their payment more easily.”