HC Deb 30 July 1956 vol 557 cc1059-62

Lords Amendment: In page 15, line 14, leave out subsection (4) and insert: (4) If it is so provided in the order designating the parking place, there shall be apparatus of the prescribed description for indicating in the prescribed manner, as respects each space provided for the leaving of vehicles, whether the initial charge has been paid and whether the period for which payment was made by the initial charge has expired; and—

  1. (a) payment of the initial charge shall be made by the insertion of coins in the apparatus and the doing of any other thing prescribed for the purpose of operating the apparatus;
  2. (b) subject to the next following paragraph, if at any time while a vehicle is left in the parking place the apparatus relating to the space in which it is left gives the prescribed indication, it shall be presumed unless the contrary is proved that the initial charge has been duly paid and that the period for which payment was made by the initial charge has already expired;
  3. (c) if it is proved that the time for which the vehicle has been left in the parking place is less than the standard period, or, where paragraph (a) of the proviso to subsection (2) of this section has effect, less than half the standard period, paragraph (b) of this subsection shall not have effect but it shall be presumed unless the contrary is proved that the initial charge has not been duly paid for the vehicle."

Mr. Molson

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.

This Lords Amendment applies to the short-term parking places and makes provision for the following matters not adequately covered by the Bill as it was. It is made clear that where a motorist parks his car in front of a meter the requirement that he must pay the charge covers not only his inserting the appropriate coin in the meter but also the doing of anything which is necessary to make the mechanism of the meter start working. Parking meters are of two kinds. Some of them are so constructed that the mere insertion of a coin will start the mechanism going. There are others which start working only if, in addition to the coin being inserted, a handle is pulled or turned.

It is also provided that proof of the presence of a car in a parking space in front of a meter which is showing the time-expired indication is to be sufficient evidence that the proper charge payable on the leaving of the vehicle was paid and that the time for which that charge was paid has expired unless the contrary is proved and subject to the case not being one of the kind mentioned in paragraph (b) of the new subsection. This raises a presumption which will accord with what are most likely to be the facts where there is a car in front of a meter showing the time-expired indication, because in the vast majority of cases that will mean that the motorist has left his car there for a longer period than the time for which he has paid. If, however, he shows that this presumption does not accord with the facts—for example, by proving that he had left the car there for only half an hour—this presumption will be rebutted.

The presence of a car in front of a meter which shows the time-expired indication will in the majority of cases mean that the motorist has outstayed the period for which he paid, but there will be some cases where the explanation will be that the car was left in front of the meter without any payment being made at all. This could particularly easily happen in cases of those meters where the insertion of the coin of itself does not start the box of tricks working but where it is necessary for a handle to be turned. Or he may have left his car in front of a meter while it was still recording the time paid for by a previous motorist who had removed his car before his hour or two hours of paid-for time had come to an end. The second motorist may think he could leave his car there for some time, and may come back to find that the buckshee period has come to an end sooner than he expected.

In such cases as these the presumption provided for in paragraph (b) of the new subsection will not be appropriate. On the other hand, as no one may have seen the motorist leave his car and go away without paying, it is necessary to raise the presumption that the motorist did not pay the appropriate charge, leaving it to him, if he can, to show there is some other explanation for his car being in front of a meter showing the time-expired indication though it has not been there long enough to make the excess charge payable.

I am sorry that we have to have these somewhat technical adjustments. The necessity arises from the fact that there will be a considerable variety of meters which will meet the general requirements, some of which we have seen in operation in other countries. It is only when we have got down to the actual details of working this out that we have found it necessary to provide for rather easily overlooked cases of this kind.

Mr. Ernest Davies

I am sure that the House will accept the Amendment, but it seems rather absurd that these details have to be brought to us at this late stage. The Bill has been in course of preparation for over twenty months and it is only now, apparently, that the Ministry has discovered that it is necessary for some of these meters to have a lever and that it has not provided for the levers to be pulled.

Lords Amendment: In page 15, line 43, after "prescribed" insert: and the doing of any other thing prescribed for the purpose of operating the apparatus.

Mr. Watkinson

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.

The Amendment refers only to the handle which one has to pull. I hope that the House will accept it.

Lords Amendment: In page 15, line 45, leave out from "been" to second "paid" and insert: duly paid or not to have been duly".

Mr. Watkinson

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.

This deals only with where one puts the coin in.