Watling Street Car Park
This is in relation to Watling Street Car Park which is managed by Canterbury City Council.
I decided to treat myself to a morning exploring Canterbury city centre today. I say "treat" because it's my birthday, and parking costs £3.80 an hour. For me, that's the same price as a nice meal for one from M&S and a chocolate. I chose not to stay too long and it turned out to ultimately cost me £11.40 when I returned to collect my car from Watling Street car park.
When I reached the exit, I tried to pay at the card machine before the barrier. It gave me an error. I pressed the help button and was told to try again by the operator. I did, and got the same error. The operator then told me to use another card, which I didn't have. His next suggestion was to reverse back and pay at the pay station instead (this is an important point to keep in mind later in my review).
I explained that it was a busy Sunday, there were cars queued behind me, and reversing simply wasn't a realistic option. He told me I would have to ask the other drivers to move. Anyone familiar with this car park will know that this is completely impractical and a logistical nightmare for one person. It's a one-way system and not designed for vehicles to reverse back from the exit. There is also only one exit - so if there is a problem this heavily impacts a busy car park like it was today with the Canterbury festival on.
Trying to follow his instructions, I reversed my small Honda Jazz and then had to drive over the raised concrete kerb in order to get to this pay machine I was instructed to go to. In doing so, I scraped the underside of my car. I then parked by the pay station and, unsurprisingly, my card worked immediately. I already knew there was money on it, as I'd used it successfully just before leaving the city centre to buy myself a small birthday cactus. The problem was clearly the exit machine, not my card.
I pressed the help button again to explain that the payment had gone through at the pay station, confirming the fault was with the exit machine. The operator's response was simply that someone else had just paid by card, seemingly determined to blame either me or my card rather than acknowledge there could be an issue with the machine.
I repeatedly asked for his first name so I could make a formal complaint. He refused. I explained that I wanted to complain specifically because I'd followed his advice, which resulted in possible damage to my car, and because of the way he had handled the situation. He then claimed he'd never told me to reverse (this made me frustrated as this was not the truth).
Throughout the entire interaction, the operator was rude, patronising, dismissive, unprofessional and curt. Every time I tried to speak, he repeatedly said, "Have a good afternoon," and then ended the help call before I could finish. He also refused to let me speak to, or provide any details for, his line manager. He did not want to be held responsible or to have a written complaint about his poor services, a complete misuse of GDPR law by car park operator who refuses to be held accountable for their poor service and actions.
At that point, I left because it was obvious he had no intention of helping, listening, apologising, or taking any responsibility for either the faulty machine or the advice he'd given.
I was genuinely shaking throughout the interaction because of how I was spoken to. Once I got back on the road, I burst into tears. I am shocked that anyone working in a customer-facing role would treat someone this way.
I have little confidence that Canterbury City Council will take this seriously or offer any apology, but I sincerely hope they review the conduct of the operator who was working at Watling Street car park this afternoon.
Thank you for turning what was meant to be a small birthday treat into an experience that ended with likely damage to my car, appalling customer service, and me driving home in tears. One star would be generous.
26. Juli 2026
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