16 November 2020

Pay and display charges to resume in January

Aberdeenshire Council is to reintroduce charges at its pay and display car-parks from week beginning Monday, January 4, 2021. 

The charges were suspended at all off-street parking in March as a result of the current Covid-19 (Coronavirus) emergency to alleviate any concerns which members of the public may have had with touching the machines and to reduce the need for council staff in attending them.

Changes to pay and display tariffs were agreed last year to try to ensure they cover their operating and maintenance costs of approximately £48,000 a month.

Parking tariffs are also an important tool in the management of parking and wider transport strategies.

Meanwhile, Aberdeenshire Council has completed the introduction of a number of improvements at all of its pay and display car-parks including new card payment options.

Motorists can pay at machines using coins or card payment via chip or contactless technology. You can also pay via cashless parking provider RingGo by using a mobile device or PC which removes the need to use a machine.

All machines are now linked to the hand-held enforcement equipment used by staff to verify which vehicles have paid – improving customer experience should you forget to display your ticket.

Head of Transportation Ewan Wallace said: “As our town centres have started returning to higher levels of car use, some customers have been experiencing difficulty accessing parking spaces due to a lack of turnover.

“Charging is a way of managing the supply and demand of our pay and display car-parks and it helps bring our facilities closer to covering their own costs which is absolutely vital.”