Isle of Wight and Aberdeen choose PayByPhone for cashless parking services

Motorists are able to travel the length and breadth of Britain and park their cars safe in the knowledge they never need to find the right change again, after the PayByPhone service was launched at opposite ends of the country in Aberdeen and on the Isle of Wight. Once registered, all it takes to park is a short phone call to give the location and how long they want to park.

Having launched in ten new local authority areas across the UK during the last six months, the PayByPhone cashless parking service has proven it has national appeal. Despite being 600 miles apart, both councils realised the benefits of offering the service, which will help them to run their parking operations more efficiently and at the same time, offer motorists the choice of a more convenient and secure way to pay for parking using their mobile phone.

PayByPhone works with local authorities all over the UK, including Aberdeen and South Ayrshire in Scotland to Manchester, the Lake District, York and Newcastle down to South Gloucestershire, Swindon and the Isle of Wight. Ten London Boroughs also provide PayByPhone parking services, including Westminster, Lambeth, Hackney and City of London. Many more councils will be launching the service in the coming months.

Available in thousands of parking locations all over the UK and used by millions of motorists, PayByPhone provides councils with a parking payment service that requires no capital investment to set up and no operational or maintenance costs. Because of its nationwide footprint, PayByPhone parking also benefits tourism and business because visitors to the area know that, if they are already registered at home, they can easily pay to park their cars using PayByPhone, without worrying about what sort of payment system is used or having the right change with them.

Mark Downer, Parking Operations Manager from the Isle of Wight Council, said: “Parking policy is very important to us and we needed to find a way to cut back on costs but not on the quality of service offered to motorists. PayByPhone meets both of these requirements and works alongside the existing method of cash payment into display machines.”

In both areas, PayByPhone has placed stickers on pay and display machines that cover more than 6,600 parking spaces. The stickers tell motorists that they can choose to pay using their phone, rather than having to find the right change for the machine and without having to rush back before their parking expires. The PayByPhone service allows customers to top up their parking on their phone, so if they are busy shopping or in meetings, they can safely top up their parking without having to cut short their trip.

On the Isle of Wight, the service can be used by motorists parking on-street and in council car parks. In Aberdeen the service is currently available in all council car parks and will be extended to on-street parking bays later this year

Aberdeen City Council Vice Convener, John Corall, said: "This type of system is widely used by other local authorities throughout the UK and I am glad to see that Aberdeen is following suit, making it easier to shop, socialise, work and do business in the city centre."

ENDS….

Contacts:
Katie Buckett / Karla Winch
Brands2Life
020 7592 1200
Paypoint2@brands2life.com

About PayByPhone
PayByPhone is a leading international provider of services to parking authorities allowing consumers to use their mobile phones to pay for their parking by credit or debit card. It has contracts in the UK, France, Canada and the USA. PayByPhone is part of the PayPoint Group of companies.

About PayPoint
PayPoint is a leading international provider of convenient payments and value added services to major consumer service organisations in the utility, housing, water, telecoms, media, financial services, transport, retail, e-commerce, gaming and public sectors. PayPoint delivers payments and services through a uniquely strong combination of local shops, internet and mobile distribution channels and handles over £11 billion from 600 million transactions annually for more than 5,000 clients and merchants.