The new pay-and-display machine at the Harbour Road car park has printed the wrong year on its tickets since the day it came into use, the Town Council’s Amenities Committee was told on Tuesday.
The machine came into use on 2 January. It gives the correct day, the correct month and the correct time. The year it gives is 2011.
A report to the committee said the supplier was informed of the fault on 6 January and again on 3 February. An engineer attended on 17 February. The machine printed the correct year in his presence and for some hours afterwards. By the following morning it had gone back to 2011. A further visit has been requested.
A Council spokesman said tickets remained valid for the day and the time printed on them. No penalty notice had been issued on account of the year, he said, and none would be.
“It tells the right time,” he said. “We would ask the public to bear with it as to the year.”
Members asked whether the car park attendant could correct tickets by hand. They were told that a ticket altered by hand is not a valid ticket under the Council’s parking order.
The committee resolved to write to the supplier a third time.
The Council has received nine letters on the subject since the New Year, the spokesman said.
Proposals for car park charges from April will come before the full Council next month. The present charges are not affected by the fault.