Shoppers waited up to 45 minutes to leave Oxford's Westgate car park after ticket machines broke down.
Drivers at the car park, off Oxpens Road, are issued with a ticket on entry and insert it in a machine to pay before they leave.
Yesterday afternoon, some of the car park's staff were absent and there was only one technician to do repairs.
Coin-only machines were the only ones left working. Drivers without change were forced to call for help to get out of the car park.
One motorist said: "Half of the machines were out of order.One member of staff had to go back to his office to get me change. It took me about 45 minutes to get out and I was fuming."
A city council spokesman said: "Unfortunately, there were a number of staff absences and an unusually high number of machines were malfunctioning.
"The queues were bigger than normal for a weekday afternoon but not as big as on a Saturday. Normal service has been resumed."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article