More councils axe pay and display machines in 'appalling' change for UK drivers
Drivers will soon have to use mobile phone apps to park in plans blasted as "appalling” and “ageist”.
Up and down the country, motorists are having to adapt to car park smartphone apps to pay with traditional “pay and display” meters being scrapped.
Local councils have pointed to prohibitive high costs of upgrading existing meters as the reason for the switch.
But campaign groups and MPs have called the strategy "appalling” and damaging for struggling high street stores.
Elderly people especially are put off by using cashless options such as RingGo and PayByPhone and it could lead to them not being put off going shopping.
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Some councils have said that the cost of upgrading "pay as you go" meters is prohibitive (Liverpool Echo)"Successful towns and high streets have accessible high streets and this involves easy-to-use car parking," said Andrew Goodacre of the British Independent Retailers Association, reported the Daily Mail.
"I am appalled that many councils are introducing car parking apps instead of meters because these apps are a barrier to many car drivers."
The change is happening with mobile phone providers switching off 3G data networks which run the parking meters.
The London borough of Bromley, which will stop using pay and display machines by the end of next month, has reportedly said it would cost £1 million to update all its machines to 4G.
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Other councils in London, including Harrow and Westminster, have already removed all of their machines, while Enfield will stop using them next month.
Elsewhere, Brighton and Hove City Council is set to do the same by May 31, reported the .
Over-60s campaign group Silver Voices director Dennis Reed called the move "blatant ageism."
He said: "They know very well when they introduce these systems that they are discriminating against older people. A lot of older people don’t have a smartphone or if they do, they only use them for calls and texts. They don’t know about apps, let alone downloading them.
"The answer is that a lot of people simply drive off and find somewhere else to park such as the road or someone’s street. There needs to be an alternative."
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Age UK charity director Caroline Abrahams called the move "disastrous for anyone without a smartphone" and claimed it could leave the elderly more isolated.
She said: "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."
RingGo has reportedly blamed the change on theft from machines, which saw Westminster council lose an estimated 25% of its takings, as well as vandalism, maintenance and the loss of 3G.
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