Now this guy is a real entrepeneur

[J Howard]

*From The London Times:*

Outside the Bristol Zoo, in England , there is a parking lot for 150 cars and 8 coaches, or buses.

It was manned by a very pleasant attendant with a ticket machine
charging cars £1 (about $1.40) and coaches A£5 (about $7).

This parking attendant worked there solid for all of 25 years.
Then, one day, he just didn't turn up for work.

"Oh well", said Bristol Zoo Management - "we'd better phone up the City
Council and get them to send a new parking attendant... "

"Err ... no", said the Council, "that parking lot is your responsibility. "
"Err ... no", said Bristol Zoo Management, "the attendant was employed
by the City Council, wasn't he?"
"Err ... NO!" insisted the Council.

Sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain , is a bloke who had
been taking the parking lot fees, estimated at A£400 (about $560) per
day at Bristol Zoo for the last 25 years. Assuming 7 days a week, this
amounts to just over A£3.6 million ($7 million)!

And no one even knows his name.

 

[Robxcarlson]

http://www.snopes.com/crime/clever/carpark.asp

 

[Fnord5]

Got to love a scam like that. $560 a day = $70 an hour(assuming an 8 hour day)

 

[RazorDingo]

As pointed out previously - this story is an Urban Legend.

But even without Snopes to set the record straight, this story doesn't hold water.

Even in sleepy olde Englande, they have accountants and budget planners who might notice a total absence of parking revenue. And the story implies that the fees charged for parking vehicles hadn't changed in 25 years. Even if there WAS a scam going on, you'd expect the thief to adjust his prices for inflation.

 

[Fnord5]

As pointed out previously - this story is an Urban Legend.

But even without Snopes to set the record straight, this story doesn't hold water.

Even in sleepy olde Englande, they have accountants and budget planners who might notice a total absence of parking revenue. And the story implies that the fees charged for parking vehicles hadn't changed in 25 years. Even if there WAS a scam going on, you'd expect the thief to adjust his prices for inflation.

Unless there actually was no fee setup.
He could have just made the signs up, and had been collecting fees, and because it wasn't an official fee, there was no line on the budget accounting for the revenue. (IE: no red flag)
Not saying it is 100% true, but things like this have happened, including someone here in California setting up a fake ATM, that collected account and PIN numbers, and accepted deposits. (stated that it was unable to dispense cash)
Another scam involved a fake mail box.

It is possible, just not likely for these scams to work for 25 years.

 

[Stubblefield]

Unless there actually was no fee setup.
He could have just made the signs up, and had been collecting fees, and because it wasn't an official fee, there was no line on the budget accounting for the revenue. (IE: no red flag)
Not saying it is 100% true, but things like this have happened, including someone here in California setting up a fake ATM, that collected account and PIN numbers, and accepted deposits. (stated that it was unable to dispense cash)
Another scam involved a fake mail box.

It is possible, just not likely for these scams to work for 25 years.

The point that other have made is that this would not be possible. Had the gent just set up his booth one day, he would have been paid a visit within a week by either a town planner or constable. It's almost impossible to run a scam like this in an urban area because too many people in the area would know who the actual property owner was and see the scam for what it was.

 

[AdrianR]

What the hey - it's still a funny story, even if it's full of holes!

 

[castlecraver]

Didn't someone else post this recently, with a similar rapidly snope'd result?

 

[Kratos]

Didn't someone else post this recently, with a similar rapidly snope'd result?

Yeah, it was just a couple weeks back, I think.

 

[TetchyPete]

The point that other have made is that this would not be possible. Had the gent just set up his booth one day, he would have been paid a visit within a week by either a town planner or constable. It's almost impossible to run a scam like this in an urban area because too many people in the area would know who the actual property owner was and see the scam for what it was.

I've lived all my 47 years in the UK and I've never once heard a policeman referred to as 'a constable'. And guess what? We don't wear bowler hats and carry canes anymore either