The Guardian have published an interesting article on the problems of pay by phone parking instead of the use of cash machines. The former are now beloved by local councils but many people have difficulty paying that way for various reasons. It does not help that different councils use different systems and other car park operators can also offer different systems. So you can turn up at a new location and find you have to waste minutes downloading a new App and recording credit card information.

As the Guardian article says: “All summer, exasperated motorists have been jabbing at their phones, trying to download and install yet another parking app. Then follows the interminable chore of entering card details and number plate, which may ultimately be derailed by poor phone signal or a glitchy app”.

But Councils say using Pay By Phone saves the authority money and reduces incidents of vandalism and theft at pay machines.

Comment: It might save local councils money but it causes great inconvenience to motorists. The ability to pay using cash should be preserved. It’s just another attack on the use of cars by making life difficult for their users.

Guardian article here: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/aug/27/rise-of-the-parking-app-makes-the-rich-richer-as-motorists-struggle?

Roger Lawson

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