Preston council run car parks to offer cashless payment

Avenham car park has space for up to 560 car parks Pic: Paul Melling

Anyone parking at a number of council-run car parks from early next year are to be given the chance to pay by phone.

Preston City Council is preparing to put pen to paper on a deal with Chipside Limited to provide online and over the phone payment for parking.

Market Hall, Hill Street, Trinity Square and Avenham car park are all operated by the city council – and currently only take cash.

The MiPermit system is set to provide payment via debit or credit card via text, telephone or online. The current cash-only payment machines will also be maintained.

The city council says it is moving to this system so it doesn’t need to install chip and pin machines in the car parks.

It will add an additional parking cost for customers using the service – with a 20p charge for each cashless transaction made via a mobile phone. You can also receive an optional reminder text which costs 10p.

Avenham car park is set to be the first to introduce the new payment scheme on 1 April.

A statement in a report by council officers to councillor Robert Boswell, cabinet member for community and environment, outlines the case for cashless payment.

They write: “Surveys of the council’s car park users have indicated that they would like to see alternative ways of making payments to pay for their stay.

“The MiPermit facility provides a range of cashless payment options from which customers can pay for their visit.

“An agreement already exists with the provider of the MiPermit system that will allow the implementation of the cashless payment offer with minimal set-up and on-going costs to the council.”

The cabinet member has agreed to project and unless other councillors call it in for discussion – they have until Thursday (17 November) – work will start on it.

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