People parking in council-run car parks in Rottingdean have nowhere that would enable them to pay with cash or by card.
Brighton and Hove Independent councillor Bridget Fishleigh said that the village had no shops where people could use PayPoint to pay for parking instead of a smartphone or the “pay by phone app”.
Parking meters have been removed or have been earmarked for removal since March because they rely on the Vodafone 3G network which is being phased out.
Brighton and Hove City Council stopped using parking meters at the end of May, saying that it would be too expensive to upgrade their machines to 4G or 5G.
Councillor Fishleigh first raised the issue at the council’s Transport and Sustainability Committee last month when she said that a shop owner was happy to offer the PayPoint service for the community.
But when the full council met just under a fortnight ago, Councillor Fishleigh said that the business had heard nothing from PayPoint.
She said: “There is no need for any finger-pointing or blame-gaming but the fact is there are not enough outlets with PayPoint facilities in the city.
“Since the Transport Committee, PayPoint still has not got in contact with the Rottingdean shop owner who said she will host a PayPoint in her shop.
“We need a short-term fix to address the problem in car parks that we know are frequented by older people in the city.”
The nearest PayPoint outlets to Rottingdean are in Saltdean – in Lustrells Vale or Longridge Avenue – or in Longhill Road, Ovingdean.
Her fellow Brighton and Hove Independent councillor Mark Earthey, who also represents Rottingdean and West Saltdean, said that reliance on smartphones discriminated against older people.
He said: “Parking machines are an example of digital discrimination against the elderly. This is pertinent.
“The ward is like others moving towards paying by smartphone. This is rather daunting to the elderly.
“A ward made up of narrow valleys, steep sides and weak or no mobile phone signal makes pay by phone almost impossible. If a tech-savvy person can’t pay by phone, the elderly can’t do it either.”
He urged the council to suspend charges in the village until a PayPoint was available.
Labour councillor Jilly Stevens said that the Transport and Sustainability Committee had instructed officials to find more PayPoint outlets.
PayPoint said: “All retailers have to pass certain criteria to work with us and we are always open to new retailers joining the PayPoint network.
“However, locals experiencing any issues can always contact us directly through the PayPoint website (www.paypoint.com) where our team will be able to help address any concerns they may have.”
Increasing the number of PayPoint outlets may help to some degree and in certain places, such as Rottingdean, but they are never going to be a decent replacement for parking machines. Machines used to be available on almost every street before they were decommissioned by BHCC at the end of June, PayPoint outlets are always going to be relatively few and far between. This means that people may have to walk considerable distances to buy parking, even if they have serious mobility issues, and risk a ticket while they are doing it. And that’s if you can actually find a PayPoint, there is no information on their locations at parking spots (except online, which you won’t be able to access if you don’t have a smartphone or a decent signal….. which is why you’d need to use PayPoint parking in the first place! Anyone see the problem there?).
Dumb ars.d Council just like appointing someone who doesn’t drive to reorganise Valley Gardens
If you have no smartphone or don’t trust submitting your bank details to the council/third party provider; the council website says the alternative to the app, is Paypoint. You are directed to the Paypoint pages where you put in the local postcode. It gives you your nearest shop that does Paypoint. You go in the shop and…..they tell you they don’t do the parking scheme !
The Council has once again failed its residents !
We readily resolved the problem with paying for parking in Rottingdean – we stopped going there. Plenty of other places to spend our money!
The Vodaphone network in the area was down for a couple of days a month or so ago.
So the system relies on a not-very perfect network, which seems a very daft idea.
The council obviously do not care about people being fined and do not consider the business the local shops are losing. WHY ON EARTH WERE THE CARD AND CASH PAYMENT PARKING MACHINES REMOVED IN THE FIRST PLACE WHEN EVERYONE COULD PAY EASILY THE COUNCIL GOT THEIR MONEY AND THE SHOPS TRADED – PATHETIC!!!
The council once again demonstrate they don’t have the intellectual capacity to deal with this and many other issues that the good folks of Brighton and Hove face. They are simply out of their depth and their incompetence appears to know no bounds!!
I stay out of Brighton and Hove and spend my money elsewhere. Vote with your feet!!
As an ‘older’ person, even the council system for payment of parking fines is a joke. I used to visit Rottingdean regularly, but no more if the Paypoint system ever arrives.
It’s a total disgrace, a money making scandal. And, I will bet they can find the money for extra parking wardens!
Another destination crossed off the day trippers list; such a shame as it’s lovely there.
My wife and I were planning to go to Rottingdean for the day, having lunch there, until I checked the parking situation and found it has gone down the same lunatic road as King Alfred, where we used to go to the beach until we found it is now impossible to pay at the car park.
Everything is app this and app that these days. Why can’t we just use a credit card to pay for parking?