UK drivers at risk of parking fines after huge overhaul in pay-as-you-go schemes
Pay-as-you-go parking machines are to be removed from cities across Britain
PA
Pay-as-you-go parking machines are to be removed from cities across Britain as motorists are left trying to keep track of up to 30 smartphone apps to pay the charge or face a fine.
The removal of parking machines could leave elderly or vulnerable motorists struggling to use apps or unable to pay without a smartphone.
Councils are withdrawing machines as mobile phone operators are switching off the 3G data network used to process card payments.
Vodafone shut down its 3G network in Plymouth and Basingstoke in February and plans to close off the entire network by the end of the year.
Councils are withdrawing machines as mobile phone operators are switching off the 3G data network
PA
EE’s 3G network will also be closed by early next year with Three to follow by the end of 2024.
Many critics of parking apps suggest there are too many and when download speeds are slow, it can cause delays, meaning people miss trains or hospital appointments.
Britain’s biggest parking app, RingGo has been downloaded by up to 515,000 people but there are also many other apps such as PayByPhone, ParkMe, Parkopedia and JustPark.
There is no default app which is used consistently across the country.
Last year, music journalist Pete Paphides shared his 84-year-old father’s distress as he attended a friend’s memorial service in Birmingham.
The car park payment system had been updated since the last time he had visited and required drivers to use an app or an automated payment line where a credit card was needed.
Not wanting to be late for the memorial service, he took a chance and parked his car before asking his son to speak to someone to explain the problem.
The service was fully automated, and there were “no humans to speak with”.
Paphides’s father died shortly afterwards, and he was still sent a fine.
“It does rather break my heart how difficult we’ve made it for old people to go about their daily business and how we terrorise them for the crime of not knowing how to download a f***ing app,” Paphides wrote.Brighton and Hove Council is removing all of its pay and display machines by May 31 because it would “save the large budget” required to convert all machines to 4G.
The London borough of Bromley will remove all its machines by early April also due to high costs.
Drivers are being fined up and down Britain for not paying to park
PA
To reconfigure each machine, it would cost the council £700 and £5,000 to replace those too old to be upgraded.
Nicholas Bennett, Bromley’s executive councillor for transport said: “As a pensioner myself, I appreciate that some people have a problem with modern technology.
“However, we are talking about people who drive a ton and a half of steel, which requires more skill than downloading an app.”
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “The news that we may soon see the end of pay and display parking is disastrous for anyone without a smartphone, including millions of older people who are struggling with the shift away from the coin-in-the-slot payment methods they used throughout their lives.
“If you are an older person who is reliant on your car for getting around but you have no means of legally parking it near to where you want to go, then you may be left feeling there is little point going there at all.”