Cashless Payment System Extended

Transport Minister Danny Kennedy has announced the extension of a trial cashless payment system to a number of cities/towns across Northern Ireland.

Following the success of the initial trial of the first cashless payment scheme introduced in Belfast a year ago, the scheme will now be rolled out in Newry, Londonderry, Lisburn, and Omagh.

The Minister said: "We have had excellent customer feedback during our evaluation of Northern Ireland’s first cashless pay by mobile phone parking scheme. The scheme provides a viable alternative to coins at parking machines allowing a credit/debit card payment substitute and it gives people a convenient way to extend their parking stay."

Cashless parking is a convenient way to pay for parking without the need for coins. It works simply by making a very short phone call at the start and end of a parking session. Payment is taken on either a credit or debit card at the end of the month. Customers register for the service either online or over the phone.

Once registered, customers make one phone call to start their parking and another to stop it on return to their vehicle. Customers are free to go about their business safe in the knowledge that their parking payment is taken care of until their return. As customers can stop their parking as soon as they return to their car they are only charged for the time they actually use - which many drivers find saves them money, even taking the 15p administration fee into account. Traffic attendants will know that you have paid for your ticket by entering your vehicle registration into the live database on their handheld devices.

(CD/DW)