Cashless parking comes to Maidenhead and Windsor

Drivers will be able to avoid pay and display machine queues by using their mobile phones to pay for parking at two Royal Borough car parks when a new scheme is introduced on Friday (24 September).

Parking at River Street in Windsor and the Stafferton Way multi-storey in Maidenhead will operate via the mobile phone service along with the existing pay and display option.

At the long-stay Stafferton Way, motorists activate a parking session lasting until midnight, when it automatically expires. If they are unexpectedly delayed and need to buy another day's parking, they can do this via their mobile - there is no need to return to the car park.

In the busy short-stay River Street car park, motorists call to activate their parking session on arrival and call again to deactivate it when they are ready to leave. There's no need to guess the length of their stay and no need for coins.

Cllr Colin Rayner said: "We are delighted to be able to provide this exciting new service for our residents and visitors. We can now offer shoppers, commuters, businesspeople, tourists and theatre-goers an alternative, fast and convenient way of paying with no need to queue for a pay and display machine and no need to have change handy.

"If this initiative is successful, we hope to extend it to all council car parks and on-street parking."

Motorists first have to register with Parkmobile, the company commissioned to run the mobile parking system, on 020 3003 2526 or at www.parkmobile.co.uk.

Then at the car parks they simply call 020 3003 2526 and use the 6051 location code at Stafferton Way or 6001 at River Street.

Smartphone users can register and pay for parking by texting 'park url' to 66644, while iPhone users can download Parkmobile's app from the App Store.

Registering is free and there is a 20p charge each time the service is used. Advantage Card discounts don't apply.

Signs have been installed in the car parks providing the necessary information.

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