Cornwall Council has been criticised after the first night of its controversial scheme to change free parking to a £2 tariff went wrong and visitors to a busy Truro car park were charged more than double.

Media consultant Pauline Causey was charged £4.90 for parking at 6.57pm on Wednesday, May 31, at Old Bridge Street car park in the city. 

Pauline parked in what is known as the shoppers’ car park in order to watch a performance of Mamma Mia at the nearby Hall for Cornwall, leaving the car park at 10.23pm. It should have cost her £2 after the new tariff was implemented on that day.

She said: “This is a high-profile, unpopular change. It was important to get it right. We’re told the council struggles because of government cuts and staff shortages. But this is entirely preventable with proper checks. It would be a worry if this kind of system problem also happened in social care or planning, for example.”

As part of the council’s roundly criticised increases to car parking tariffs, from May 31 there will now be parking charges in Truro between midnight and 9am, with a charge of £2 if parking between 6pm and midnight. 

The new short stay tariffs for Cornwall Council car parks in Truro have now increased to £1.30 for up to 30 minutes, £2.20 for up to one hour, £4.40 for one to to hours and £5.50 for two to three hours.

Truro is the now only place in the county with evening parking charges in all of its car parks after the free provision was dropped.

Pauline was not the only person affected by the charging error in the Old Bridge Street car park. Mayor of Truro Carol Swain responded to a Facebook post, saying: “Exactly the same thing happened to me and my friends – but I was not willing to pay £4.90, as our ticket confirmed that we had arrived at 18:01, so it should only have been £2.

“The help button on the machine had a little notice saying it was not manned after 17:00, and to go to the exit. We did that, expecting to have to push the call button there and negotiate with someone. The barrier opened just as we were stopping at the exit, so we drove out without paying anything at all. I am keeping the ticket for now, just in case a penalty notice arrives in the post.”

Pauline has complained to the council about her £4.90 charge and asked for a refund. She added: “Is it possible that Cornwall Council has changed the signage in the car parks, changed the barriers so you can’t exit without paying, but forgotten to change the daytime charges in the machines to nighttime charges?”

The council has since apologised to Pauline and sent her a form to apply for a refund.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council said: “We apologise to customers who may have been affected by this isolated case of the payment machine in this car park not correctly synching to reflect the new charges. Anyone who thinks they have overpaid should contact us for a refund [email protected].”

Truro BID which represents businesses in Truro has been very critical of the increased tariffs. A spokesperson said this week: “We are very disappointed with these changes and have contacted Cornwall Council several times as we still believe the new parking charges and loss of free evening parking will have a very negative impact on the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors.”

One silver lining is that the multi-use tickets, available via the parking app Just Park have reduced to £2.50 for each 24 hour session (they were £4 previously). For details see: www.cornwall.gov.uk/justpark