York council car parks could go cashless to cut costs

A council report said a move to cashless payments could save £45,000 a year

A council is considering scrapping cash payments in its car parks in an attempt to save money.

City of York Council is consulting on a move to cashless parking after figures showed that only 12% of people buying tickets last year used coins.

A report said that the switch would save £45,000 a year if money no longer had to be collected from the machines.

However, campaigners raised concerns over the impact of the change on vulnerable people.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the council report also said that another consideration was attempts to steal cash from ticket machines.

"Recently damage and theft of a pay and display machine at Scarborough Hospital was recorded," the report said.

"Therefore, a cashless policy would eliminate any risks of thefts or damage associated with the stealing of cash."

City of York Council is consulting on the move to cashless payments in its car parks

However, Flick Williams, who often campaigns on disability issues in York, noted other issues not covered in the report.

"Those in coercive relationships, most usually women, will often use cash to avoid surveillance of their location from their bank card use from their abusive partners," she said.

Ms Williams added: "This is what this is really about; switching from pay and display to pay on exit.

"If so, restoring barriers to car parks also opens up a whole new can of worms regarding the accessibility of pedestrian movement."

The report said that if the policy was not agreed then a potential budget shortfall would need to be addressed.

It said the shortfall was currently being picked up by a surplus income above budgeted projections in car parking fees.