to feel miffed that new car park machines require registration numbers.

I don't mind entering my reg number but it does annoy me to have to rummage for the right change. If only all machines were 'pay by card' it would suit me much better. The other day I had to find £1.30 which admittedly isn't too bad for up to 3 hours nowadays. But it can't be done with fewer than three coins - in my case, four as I had to use two 50p pieces.

Teetime I know exactly which machines you mean, they are dreadful, we used them a month or so ago. We are both quite tech savvy but we struggled. We missed our bus because DBH ended up having to show the queue of older men behind us how to work it, just to save everyone time. Some ladies in front of us, we now realise, were each paying separately for the same car, not as add-on passengers.

janer Do you have to pay for passengers?

Not totally relevant but I think it is interesting that the nearest city – 15 minutes' drive away from where I live – has car parks where you have to pay a charge. They don't charge a vast sum of money (nothing like London or other UK cities, for example) but it is a pain for people who work there, especially if they arrive after about half past seven in the morning, and a complete circus at busy times of year such as the run-up to Christmas. The small town/suburb where I am has a very large number of non-paying car parks. Some have time restrictions but there is no cost. More and more people flock to shops, cafés and bars here, which is good for the local economy and it is very rare to see any kind of car park rage.

My friend has a personalised number with the only number being '8'. some ticket machines won't accept that there are no more digits and she has to leave as she can't get a ticket.

lona It's because it's park and ride, so you need a bus ticket for each person, but the two ladies in front of us had hopped on the bus and driven off before we realised that they had BOTH paid for the car ticket as well!

The old machine was so much easier. We'd rather they had two machines, one for the car and driver ticket, one for bus tickets for passengers. It would speed things up hugely. Plus we never know our registrations! The timings have also come into play, it's no longer just one price so I presume that too is to stop people passing on tickets.