OLDER people are being put off parking in the city centre because they now think car parks are 'cashless' or do not use mobile phone apps says a city councillor. 

Jill Desayrah says, who has talked to residents, says there is a misapprehension that many car parks in the city centre do not accept cash and that you require a smartphone app to pay.

The councillor, who believes the so-called 'grey pound' is important for city centre businesses, has praised Worcester City Council for explaining the payment methods accepted in each car park on their website but has suggested a pre-paid card you can top up at the post office may be the answer for some. 

The Warndon city councillor has spoken to one couple who had been shopping in Droitwich rather than Worcester because of the confusion and has welcomed extra clarity for residents and shoppers coming to the city from elsewhere.

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According to Worcester City Council, you can pay by card, cash or RingGo at many city car parks including Cattlemarket, Copenhagen Street, Cornmarket, Croft Road, King Street, Pitchcroft, Newport Street, Providence Street and St Martin's Gate Car Park

The following car parks are listed as RingGo only: Clare Street, Commandery Road, Tallow Hill, Moors and Tybridge Street.

The Labour councillor believes the changes have 'created a little confusion as some people wrongly believe that cash is no longer accepted anywhere and avoid coming into the city as a result'.

Raymond and Jane Davis, of Joiners Close, in Warndon, Worcester said: “These restricted ways to pay have put us off coming into the city. We've been going to Droitwich instead because we know we can use cash to park there.

"What we hadn’t realised is that cash payments are still possible in most of Worcester’s city centre car parks. We will be happy to return now we have learned this.“

Cllr Desayrah said: “It’s not easy to find out which payment methods are accepted in a particular car park before you arrive there. I have asked the city council to highlight this information on their parking website and I'm pleased that they have agreed to do so. I'm sure this will be helpful.”

In addition, Cllr Desayrah has recognised that many elderly residents are not comfortable using cash-free technologies such as smartphone apps and says this also needs to be addressed.

“The council rightly prides itself on being inclusive, and any step that tends to exclude particular groups doesn’t sit well with that.

"So, I’ve suggested they might consider accepting payment through pre-paid cards.

"These could be loaded and reloaded with money at a variety of places, like Post Offices or newsagents, and used in car parks when needed. This offers a compromise. We don’t revert to cash but we aren’t excluding those who are not comfortable using smartphones.

"However, at present the city council is understandably reluctant to spend money developing other options, because the cashless car parks are few and low volume. 

"But I hope this will be considered when city council finances allow, and especially if the cashless approach is extended in future, as I think everyone would benefit.”

Mr and Mrs Davis were impressed by the prospect. “Although it’s good to know that we can still use cash for parking in the city centre, our most convenient car park is one of the cashless ones. So the pre-paid card is a brilliant idea that would make it available to us again. We hope it can come in soon.”

A spokesperson for Worcester City Council said: “Just five of our 14 car parks have gone ‘app only’, with the other nine continuing to offer the options of cash, card or app payment.

“This means that just over 1900 car parking spaces continue to benefit from all payment choices and fewer than 400 are ‘app only’.

"The five ‘app only’ car parks have signs directing users to the nearest car park where they can pay by cash or card if they prefer.

“The move to operating a mix of ‘app only’ car parks and car parks that offer cash, card and app payments has only been in place for a few weeks.

"Early indications have shown a rise in the number of customers using our car parks since that change was brought in, but we will need to monitor user behaviour over a longer period before we can reasonably review its impact.”