Text a Meter

Parking meters will vanish from central London by the end of next year. Drivers can pay for parking by text

The decision to rip out more than 2,000 of the machines has been taken by Westminster City Council, which was responsible for their first appearance in the capital almost 50 years ago.

With parking costing up to £4 an hour, the council believes it is unrealistic to expect motorists to carry fistfuls of coins. In addition, Westminster calculated that it was losing £100,000 a week to thieves breaking into meters.

Motorists will use credit or debit cards to pay for parking. Those with a mobile phone will be able to do so by text, after setting up an account with their card and car registration details.

Drivers will have to text in the bay number and the amount of time for which they wish to pay. Shortly before their money runs out, they will be sent a text warning and given the option to top up.

Those without a mobile phone can use payment machines that accept cards. Traffic wardens will have hand-held computers on which the registration numbers of cars that have paid to park will be displayed.

Motorists without either a mobile phone or a credit or debit card will have to use council car parks.

Westminster said that its decision to scrap cash parking on the streets had received overwhelming backing from motorists.

The AA welcomed the initiative yesterday. "The ability to top up payments by phone when a meeting over-runs or you get delayed is a huge step forward in fairer parking," said Paul Watters, head of roads and transport policy.

"There still needs to be an on-street machine option to cater for the occasional visitor, who may not want the fuss of setting up an account or even know about the new system."