Coin change for Teignbridge car park machines

Motorists are being encouraged to check they’ve swapped the ‘old for the new’ before they park in any of Teignbridge District Council’s car parks.

From Saturday July 1, payment machines in Teignbridge District Council-owned car parks will only accept the new 12-sided new pound coins.

At the same time, people are able to ‘go cashless’ and use card and phone payments as quicker ways to pay.

Although old one pound coins don’t go out of circulation until 15 October 2017, Teignbridge needed to bring the switch in earlier than planned to avoid making expensive changes to cash handling processes to enable its bank to accept the different coins during the co-circulation period.

In November 2016 Teignbridge invested nearly £250,000 to upgrade and convert all the district’s parking machines to enable payment by card and phone and for the introduction of the new 12-sided one pound coins.

Cllr Doug Hellier-Laing, Teignbridge District Council’s Executive member for Economy, Skills and Tourism, said:

“The upgrade investment in car parking facilities enabled Teignbridge to get ahead of the game when it came to machines taking the new £1, and has allowed people to pay quickly, safely and easily through card and phone options with the added benefit of no transaction charges. People can also still choose to pay using the existing RingGo system if they’re already registered.

“We’ve had to balance our counting, storing and bank handling processes and ensure we continue to make best use of public money and council resources. We looked at lots of ways of doing this but it didn’t stack up. In the meantime we’d advise motorists to double-check their coins before setting out and we apologise for any inconvenience this causes.

“Over the last few weeks we’ve been out and about talking to parking customers about phone and card payments and had some valuable feedback. Many like the speed of contactless payments, and those who were nervous about making the change had a go with the help of our parking staff.

“Whatever your preferred method – phone, card or cash – there’s still something for everyone.”

Teignbridge wrote to town and parish councils to inform them of the change and notices advising motorists of the changes were placed up in council car parks across the district earlier this month.

To find out where your nearest Teignbridge District Council-owned car park is visit www.teignbridge.gov.uk/carparkmap