Council sorry for car park payment issues

South Holland District Council has issued an apology after a fortnight of confusion over changes to Spalding’s car park payment.

This month, the payment machines in Spalding’s car parks are being updated, with all but two going cashless.

The issues began when notices were posted on machines on Monday, June 11, stating they will be updated from that day.

The council, however, said the machines will be updated by June 18.

This final transfer date has now been pushed back to June 22, with works going on throughout this week.

A new poster detailing the changes says: “Apologies for any confusion caused by previous signage or publicity regarding this change.”

Online critics said the council didn’t give accurate information or details of the phone app that would be required as an alternative to using a credit card.

This has since been announced and the designated app is WayToPark, which is available for Android and Apple devices.

Although parking tariffs won’t rise with the new machines, users of the phone app will face an additional 20p charge.

A council spokesman said: “This will cover the cost of issuing text reminders to users 15 minutes before their parking expires and allowing you to extend your parking without the need to return to a terminal.”

Councillor Roger Gambba-Jones said the new machines help Spalding move with the times: “In studies carried out elsewhere in the UK, 78 per cent of people said they wanted to pay for parking using credit or debit cards and 45 per cent showed an interest in paying with a phone.

Taking this into account we want to introduce a service that gives as many people as possible a choice of quick and easy payment options,” he said.

Herring Lane and Victoria Street car parks will continue to accept cash payment.