General News
21 January, 2024
More parking meter angst for motorists
Horsham Rural City Council has been left red-faced, despite a decision to allow free parking in its metered zones during the Black Friday sales on November 24.
Horsham Rural City Council has been left red-faced, despite a decision to allow free parking in its metered zones during the Black Friday sales on November 24.
Lack of publicity and lack of signs on many meters left most residents unaware they did not have to pay to park in the CBD on that day.
Former councillor Di Bell said she quickly realised there was an issue, and rang council shortly after 9am.
She said she later used a Freedom of Information application to discover that $182 was paid into meters on that day by cash, phone or credit card, from 376 customers.
"This issue has caused reputational damage to the council," Mrs Bell said.
"The whole new plarking plan implementation and meter rollout has been so inefficiently completed with delayed signage and changes.
"These meters are plainly just lemons."
Council did not publicly acknowledge the issue until four weeks later, when it sent a press release to local media.
"Horsham Rural City Council would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused to motorists during the Black Friday retail campaign on November 24, 2023," it read.
"Unfortunately, parking meters were unable to be re-programmed to allow for all-day free parking, despite free parking being offered across central Horsham.
"We would like to assure the public that we are taking steps to rectify this error.
"Any motorist who was impacted and paid for parking on this day can seek a full cash refund from the Civic Centre during office hours between 8 January and 12 January 2024.
"Impacted parties can bring a photo of their registration or other registration documentation into council, which will be matched to their payment on that day and a full cash refund provided."
The release was not delivered until 3.49pm on December 22, long after all local newspapers had published their last editions before Christmas.
As a result, many people remained unaware they were eligible for a refund.
Requests to council this week for further information went unanswered.
The Horsham Times asked why the apology was sent out four weeks after the event and too close to Christmas for local papers to publicise the offer for refunds, and why the offer of refunds closed on January 12, among other questions.
However, it is understood it has since extended the period during which aggrieved mortorists could claim a refund. The new deadline to claim refunds is today.
Council also used the press release to remind motorists they could claim 30 minutes of free parking on Mondays to Saturdays, but must still enter their registration number at the meter or in the Blinkay App.