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Parking meters scrapped in central London

By David Millward, Transport Correspondent
Last Updated: 3:54pm BST 27/06/2007

Parking meters are to disappear from the streets of central London by the end of next year.

The decision to rip out more than 2,000 meters has been taken by Westminster City Council, which was responsible for their appearance in the capital nearly 50 years ago.

With parking costing up to £4 an hour, the council believes it is unrealistic for motorists to be expected to carry fistfuls of coins.

In addition Westminster calculated that it was losing £100,000 a week to thieves breaking into meters.

Under the new arrangements, motorists will use their credit or debit cards to pay for parking.

Those with a mobile phone will be able to do so by text, after setting up an account with their card and car registration details.

This will entail motorists texting in the bay number and the amount of time they wish to pay for.

Shortly before their time runs out, they will be sent a text warning and giving them the option to top up.

Those without a mobile phone will be directed to a payment machine which will accept card payments, but not cash.

Traffic wardens, meanwhile, will be issued with handheld computers on which the registration numbers of cars that have paid to park will be displayed.

Those whose time has run out will be shown in red, while the number plate details of those still in credit will be shown in green.

Meanwhile motorists without either a mobile phone or a credit or debit card will be unable to park on the street. Instead they will be directed to car parks, where cash will still be taken.

Westminster said that its decision to scrap cash parking on the streets had received overwhelming backing from motorists.

The initiative was welcomed by the AA.

“The ability to top up parking payments by phone when a meeting over-runs or you get delayed in a shopping queue is a huge step forward in fairer parking,” said Paul Watters, head of roads and transport policy.

"However there needs to be an on-street machine option to cater for the occasional visitor, who may not want the fuss of setting up an account or even know about the new system.

“Technology can be a real friend or a formidable foe when it goes wrong. Let’s hope it’s the former, and avoids the damaging mistakes experienced during the early days of the congestion charge zone.

“Technology can be a real friend or a formidable foe when it goes wrong. Let’s hope it’s the former, and avoids the damaging mistakes experienced during the early days of the congestion charge zone.

Under the new arrangements, motorists will use their credit or debit cards to pay for parking.

Traffic wardens, meanwhile, will be issued with handheld computers on which the registration numbers of cars that have paid to park will be displayed.

Those whose time has run out will be shown in red, while the number plate details of those still in credit will be shown in green.

With parking costing up to £4 an hour, the council believes it is unrealistic for motorists to be expected to carry fistfuls of coins.

In addition Westminster calculated that it was losing £100,000 a week to thieves breaking into meters.