'Stop forcing drivers to pay for parking with apps,' says RAC

Three quarters of drivers who have paid for public parking using a smartphone app say they have encountered issues as one of the nation's biggest motoring organisations calls for a wider choice of payment options.

The RAC has urged parking operators to offer at least two methods of payment at every car park, adding that 'no-one should be forced' to use an app.

In a poll of 1,709 UK drivers, 73 per cent of those who have used a mobile app to pay for parking in the last 12 months suffered problems.

Most respondents said they prefer using bank/contactless cards (46 per cent) or cash (33 per cent), compared with (30 per cent) who favour an app.

Many councils have removed payment machines from their car parks and told drivers to use apps instead, to save money.

However, this has caused widespread frustration for motorists and an increase in the number of scams with fraudsters sticking different QR codes onto machines that dupe drivers into depositing money into the trickster's account.

The RAC's survey indicated the most common frustration - experienced by 70 per cent of drivers while using parking apps - is a lack of signal.

This was followed by the application not correctly recognising the car park being used (36 per cent), and the app crashing (35 per cent).

One in eight respondents said they could not work out how to use the app, a figure that doubled to one in four among motorists aged 75 and older.

More than a third of drivers (36 per cent) who use parking apps have at least three installed on their phone, while 15 per cent have four or more.

In May, the Government announced the launch of the National Parking Platform, which is aimed at enabling drivers to pay for parking in all participating car parks using their preferred app.

It said at the time that drivers face 'inconsistent parking rules, clunky user experiences and unnecessary barriers'.

The RAC said 10 local authorities are using the service including city councils in Manchester, Liverpool and Coventry.

More are expected to sign up shortly.

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RAC senior policy officer Rod Dennis said: 'Mobile apps have an important and increasing role to play when it comes to parking our vehicles, and the best ones make parking an easier task for many of us.

'But our figures show there's still plenty drivers find frustrating about using them - whether that's a lack of mobile signal, problems registering bank cards, or the app crashing or behaving strangely.

'All parking operators, whether public or private, should offer drivers at least two different ways to pay.

'No-one should be forced to use a mobile app when parking if they don't want to, especially those who struggle with technology or just don't have a smartphone.'

Mr Dennis encouraged drivers to ensure they have downloaded the latest version of each parking app they use, to reduce the chances of them not functioning properly.

Recent Government figures show English councils made a £1.2billion surplus from parking in the last financial year.

However, motorists are urged to take care when paying for parking in public car parks due to the increasing threat of scammers stealing their money - and potentially their personal information.

'Quishing' is the growing criminal activity of placing fake QR codes on payment machines in car parks to defraud unsuspecting drivers by duping them into entering credit and debit card information into fake websites.

The RAC said the scam often has a double-blow for victims, who not only hand over their payment information to thieves but also get stung with fines from councils and private firms for failing to pay the parking rate.

Experts have pointed out that councils and parking operators switching to cashless payment systems has accelerated this problem.