City drivers set to pay for parking using mobiles

The new RingGo system, which will eventually end the practice of buying a ticket to stick on the windscreen, is set to be introduced on Monday and will see drivers use their mobile phones to pay for tickets.

Traffic wardens will be able to check a car has paid to be in a particular space with a handheld computer. The scheme is currently in operation in private parking bays at the Travelodge in St Mary's Street, as well as several cities throughout the UK.

A council spokesman said: "The scheme uses location identification as a means of knowing what vehicles have paid to park in a street. This requires handheld devices to be able to communicate with a central database. It allows for users to extend their stay. However, one issue that will need to be addressed is the fact that we have different maximum stay periods for parking bays throughout the city. The cost of an initial payment at a machine will be the same whatever the method of payment."