This is a true story from Insiderland – or at least the county in which the Insider is located (and yes that is Norfolk, a place that gave rise to the phrase Normal for Norfolk)...

In an attempt to speed up the collection of revenues from (and improve the security of) their pay & display ticket machines in car parks located in Thetford Forest in the Norfolk countryside, the Forestry Commission has been experimenting with mobile phone-based systems – such as the sort you now find in parts of London. Unfortunately they overlooked the fact that Thetford  Forest is a notorious black-spot for mobile phone signals. Back to the drawing board.