New survey finds one in five councils are still using parking metres that won’t accept the new £1 coin
According to a Freedom of Information request investigated by the AA, one in five councils throughout the UK have still not updated their parking ticket machines to allow for the use of the new £1 coin, despite it being legal tender since 28 March this year.
The breakdown recovery company found that 23 councils have so far not converted one machine to enable the use of the new £1 coin.
The AA discovered 74 out of 340 councils (21.8%), who were responsible for car parks and therefore the ticket machine which allows motorists to pay for their space, have still not converted them to cater for the new coin.
New survey finds one in five councils are still using parking metres that won’t accept the new £1 coin © Copyright Albert Bridge and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Motorists up and down the country could be left liable to fines as a result of these findings and by next month (August), 46 local authorities (13.5%) will still be creating car park woes for drivers.
Basingstoke, Cheltenham, Stroud and Wigan are four of the 23 councils who’ve still not converted one single ticket machine to allow for the use of the new £1 coin, which has now been in circulation for almost four months.
According to the AA’s findings, Lewes District Council, in Sussex, has no parking ticket machines enable to take the new coin and won’t be changing any of them until this December, despite the fact that the old £1 coin stops being legal tender on 15 October 2017.
A number of local authorities have suggested visitors to a town or city should set up a payment via the council’s mobile phone cashless payment system in the meantime.
President of the AA, Edmund King, says it’s not the motorists fault if a parking ticket machine won’t allow them to pay for a space just because they haven’t been updated yet to take the new legal tender and no blame should be apportioned on the driver.
Mr King also believes that councils should be making car parking free until all of their ticket machines have been converted to accept the new £1 coin, claiming it’s unfair to expect people to waste time and possibly have to pay more by signing up to a council’s cashless parking system, especially for visitors who may only be there for a short spell.
Please click here to find out more about our car leasing services and special deals, or give us a call on 0800 311 8290.
