Dear Sir
We often walk on Camber sands with the dog and park on the far right of the area . Soon after the new parking system started we did the same . The parking machine on that side was not working so we moved to one in the middle. This took the 1 hour fee but issued no ticket . Then followed a hunt to find someone responsible to report this . Finally we did our usual walk but obviously the whole procedure took time . Then the sting –we have received a fine of £60 ( 100 if not paid in 14 days ) for overstaying for 15 minutes . We have complained to the company but of course no response so forced to pay to avoid the higher charge .It seems to be a one-sided system in favour of Smart Parking.
Caroline and Michael Kehoe
Image Credits: Kenneth Bird .
I sympathize with your experience, we regularly holiday in Rye and used this carpark many times in the past. However, we also paid £1.50 and were given no ticket. We used our other £1.50 for potential top up to get a ticket as knowbody was about to help. We returned to the Car on time. But having a small child with us it took longer to get sorted in the car. We presumed we would be ok. However, they must count the time on exit of the carpark as we got a £60 fine. Had it not taken our £1.50 initially we could have paid for time to get bucket and spades etc and young child back in the car seat. I would not want to use this car park again as it is expensive! You only get a choice of £5 to avoid such a situation as 1 hour is tricky to manage leaving exit exactly, given time it takes to walk to the beach. They need £3.00 charge for 2 hours for people who can’t afford their high rates and still want a little bit of time on the beach.