Car Parking in Peckham

Outraged from Lewisham

No wonder they have so many drive by shootings in Peckham, the parking charging system is enough to make you want to reach for an Ouzi (is that not a Greek alcoholic beverage? ed).  I needed to Park for 5 minutes, but the meter men are pretty hot round here so I decided to get a ticket.  It was chucking it down, and I had no brolly, but I limped off to the machine to find it didn't give change, and paying a pound struck me as an intolerable liberty.  I decided to make a stand for the individual .. and to pay by phone.  By now the rain was trickling down my neck.  After the usual set of keypad challenges the system decided I was dexterous and wealthy enough to use their services.  However, by phone the minimum parking period was 1 hour at a cost of 80p and a "convenience fee" of 40p.  Sod that, get the change out again ..  (and even that's got wet by now).

I found I actually did have enough change for 80p, so I put it in the ticket machine but it miss-swallowed a 20p, and refused to return it.  I explained calmly and carefully to the machine exactly where I thought it's performance had fallen short of my expectations, but to no avail... Nothing for it but to put a pound in.

Close to tears by now, and sodden through, I lurched across to the glass merchant only to be informed by the propretor that what I was supposed to collect wouldn't fit in the car, and .. "by the way, the next time you come you can park on the road in front, it's free".