"Car parking instructions are not clear"

Good afternoon,

I am writing to express concerns regarding the current parking machines which are in place at the Townsville General Hospital (TGH). These machines are often the site of much confusion to members whom are there, to obviously pay for their parking. I try to avoid the TGH but the times I have gone, these machines have always got a bunch of confused people around them.

Now, I am positive a lot of the general public have used ticket machines in their lives. These are without doubt the worst machines I have used to pay a ticket.

Firstly, when you have inserted the ticket into the station, it automatically comes up with the payment option to pay $5 or to Cancel. There is also another option, but, I forgot to write/take a photo of the screen, due to the que of people behind me who were also paying their ticket. On the actual machine - not on the screen - it says "60 minutes free parking. " That is fantastic.

But, where is the acknowledgement of someone being within their "60 minute free parking"? ? As I said, there is no clear direction on the screen. All that needs to be added, is another prompt of:

"You are within the limit of 60 minutes free parking. No charge. "

Instead, there is nothing to let someone know that they are within their entitled free parking. After all, how many people, when they are stressed, upset, tired, angry, hungry etc and going to stop and 'read the manual' on how to pay their parking ticket. This needs to be simplified. Fast.

Secondly, when the confusion as to 'do I pay or not pay? ? ? ' arose, the quickest way to get help was from the contractor who was coming in to take all the money from the machine. Yes, the contractor who takes the money from the machine was kind enough to let the crowd know that you don't have to pay the $5 that automatically comes up when you are under 60 minutes in the TGH. Instead, as he said 'just cancel the ticket and put your ticket in the machine when you exit the carpark. '

Seriously, this is how simple it should have been in the first place. Now, I am sure the creators of the machine are currently raking in the money from people putting in $5 for less than 60 minutes worth of free parking.

As I wrote earlier, the people using these machines are sometimes in an emotional state so don't write and say that the machine states that there is 60 minutes of free parking. If this were the case, why has it accepted my $5 when I have paid the $5 in the past for being under 60 minutes? ? The machines are not clear. The direction on if you are being charged/don't need to be charged needs to be more clear and concise.

Thank you,