Talisman Railwayana’s 24th March 2018 auction had a pre-1971,
London Transport automatic car park sign, “Two shillings a day, enter free, pay
as you drive out.”
Enter free? That wasn’t free. That was paying on the way
out. There was nothing free about it. It was payment taken when you left - like
purchasing goods in a shop, after a meal in a restaurant or even winning an
unfathomable sign at an auction. Some things worked the other way around, so we
may have paid for a swim before we jumped in the pool or before we sat in our
seats at the cinema, but no-one ever said pay when you come in and it is free for
you to leave afterwards, because that would be nonsense.
I suppose you could have wandered around town for a couple
of hours thinking, “Great, this car park isn’t costing me anything as long as I
don’t go back there to get my car out. How cool is this? I’m beating the
system. Perhaps I should just stay here longer, as its still free, and carry on
walking around town some more. In fact, I think I might just leave my car there
for ever, as I don’t have to pay as long as it’s still in there.”
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