Motorists have been advised to ensure they have the most recent versions of parking apps installed on their devices after research highlighted the UK’s ‘frustrating’ parking predicament. The guidance comes after new findings from the RAC indicating that almost three-quarters of parking app users face problems.
The study of 1,709 UK motorists found that 73% of those who had used a mobile application to settle parking fees within the previous 12 months had encountered difficulties. Most participants said they would rather use bank/contactless cards (46%) or cash (33%), in contrast to the 30% who favour an app.
Nevertheless, numerous local authorities have eliminated payment machines from their car parks and directed motorists to use applications as an alternative, as a money-saving strategy.
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.”
The most frequent problem encountered whilst using parking applications, based on the RAC’s research, is poor signal coverage (70%). This was followed by the application failing to properly recognise the car park being used (36%), and the app freezing (35%).
Some 13% of respondents said they could not figure out how to use the app, a figure that doubled to 26% for those aged 75 and above. More than a third of drivers (36%) who use parking apps have at least three installed on their phone, while 15% have four or more.
In May, the Government announced the launch of the National Parking Platform, which aims to enable 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 has revealed that 10 local authorities, including city councils in Manchester, Liverpool and Coventry, are using their service, with more expected to join soon.
Mr Dennis continued: “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.”
Recent Government figures show English councils made a £1.2 billion surplus from parking in the last financial year. The RAC commissioned research company Online95 to conduct the survey across June and July.