Pay-by-app parking ‘excluding mature drivers’

Millions of older motorists could be restricted from taking simple trips to the town simply because they won’t have the capacity to pay for parking, says leading vehicle breakdown recovery provider Start Rescue.

As local authorities increasingly move to ‘pay by app’ systems, pensioners who do not have a smartphone will find themselves high and dry at parking bays in the UK’s towns and cities.

The move away from cash and card payments has been accelerated by mobile phone providers switching off 3G data networks, on which some parking machines operate.

Currently there are at least 30 different smartphone apps to pay parking charges.

Britain’s biggest parking app is RingGo with 19 million users, but other major players such as ParkMe, Parkopedia, Just Park, and PayByPhone are looking to expand.

Most operate using apps but with some, such as RingGo, you can call and book your spot over the phone. There is still no way of paying by card or cash directly, though.

Data from Ofcom shows that only 68% of those aged 65 or over use a smartphone to go online. With more than 9.2 million drivers on our roads in the same age group according to the DVLA, that suggests there are potentially 2.9 million older drivers without access to apps to enable them to pay for parking.

“Local authorities have a problem, but it is also a national issue that needs to be addressed,” said Lee Puffett, managing director of Start Rescue.

“Elderly people like to use cash and they are perfectly willing to pay – and they should have that option available to them. If local authorities want parking revenue they must make payment methods that are easy for all of society, not just the younger generation.”