I dropped my wife off at Melbourne airport this morning. Denying my inner tightarseness I parked for 40 mins, a charge of $6. This got me thinking.
If I park then pay the minimum fee immediately, how long do they give you to exit the carpark. I could have hypothetically had a flat tyre, or car wouldn't start, or any other myrid of issues which delayed me exiting the carpark. And I assume that they don't want people stuck at the exit gate with an invalid ticket.
Is anyone aware of a time limit? Is there even a time limit? Can I pay, and then exit hours later?
It's not unlimited. From reading notices in places with payment machines it's usually something like 10-15 minutes grace from paying at the machine to the exit gate. If you exceed the grace time, a big cage will drop down on your car and you won't be let out until you surrender your credit card. No just kidding, the boom will refuse to lift until you insert a credit card to pay the excess, or convince someone over the intercom to be lenient.