Northampton pensioner slams new ANPR system at busy council-owned car park following Saturday night 'CHAOS'

A Northampton pensioner has called out the council following ‘mayhem’ and ‘chaos’ at a car park on Saturday (March 5).

Sara Gravett and her husband David Woolley, from Far Cotton, were one of hundreds of motorists stuck in gridlock traffic inside St John’s Car Park on Saturday afternoon (March 4) between 5 and 6.30pm.

Like many that night, the couple had parked at the council-owned car park and made their way up to the Royal and Derngate to watch the matinee showing of Strictly Ballroom.

However, when their afternoon had finished and they got into their car at 5.10pm it would be another one hour and 20 minutes before they were free from St John’s.

Council’s new ANPR system

West Northants Council introduced new ANPR cameras at St John’s in January in a bid to ‘simplify the payment and access process’.

The cameras read number plates and then visitors can pay via machines or at the barrier upon exit. The council said in January that it will also launch a parking app to enable users to pre-register their details and a payment method.

However, the ANPR system left has left hundreds confused, according to Sara, especially as both the old payment signage is still up alongside new payment signage.

‘It was mayhem’

Sara, aged 68, said: “We got to the car park and it was mayhem. People didn’t know where to pay, how to pay, whether they could pay at the barriers or anything. On all the floors, the old signage was still displayed saying take a ticket and pay when leaving. It was horrendous. I’ve never seen it as gridlocked as that. It was ridiculous.

“We sat there for 30-minutes gridlocked on floor 10. We thought there was going to be a fight at one stage because you know what people are like in their cars, they start to push in and get all aggy don’t they.

“I almost heard the Benny Hill theme tune in my head because there were so many people looking at the notices running back and forth wondering what to do. The queue to pay at one of the machines was halfway up the hill towards the Derngate.

"WNC brought this in in January, they have had plenty of time to change the signage and update their website but they haven’t. It’s bonkers. It’s typical of WNC. It’s just the arrogance of the people at the top of the council, they want people to come into the town centre but they’re not exactly encouraging it.

“There were a lot of very annoyed people.”

‘Sounds like a real fiasco’

Independent councillor Julie Davenport (Delapre and Rushmere ward) said the whole thing is a ‘fiasco’.

Councillor Davenport said: “I cannot understand why this happened and why the old signage was not changed. It sounds a real fiasco when it should have been an easy transition from one system to another. I hope the council does refund all parking overpayments and apologises to the people who were stuck in their cars for an hour just trying to get out of a car park.”

WNC response

Cllr Phil Larratt, in charge of the ANPR system for WNC, said: “When we introduced the new system, we provided signage at both the entrance and exit to St John’s car park alerting people to the changes, and additional signage throughout the car park, but we are happy to consider adding more.

“There are three pay stations in the car park, two on level four and one on level one, and people can also pay at both exit barriers. In addition we will soon be introducing a new means of payment, via an app, which means people will just be able to drive out.

“We regret that people were delayed leaving on Saturday, which was caused by a large number of cars all wanting to exit in a short space of time. The various payment methods we have introduced and are working on should help speed up departures at peak times such as at the end of a show.”