Anger over new parking app charge

Some Islanders who have tried out the new app, which is being trialled at Green Street car park, have angrily claimed online that the Infrastructure Department was charging people an extra 20p to park.

The app allows people to pay for parking with their phone, instead of using scratch cards.

Motorists have said they were being charged 98p per hour to park instead of the standard rate of 78p.

But Infrastructure Minister Eddie Noel and Terry Renouf, from Parking Control, said the extra charges are from default add-ons supplied by the app.

Drivers can pay 10p to receive reminders by text when their parking period is due to expire and another 10p to receive a parking receipt by text.

Deputy Noel said the charges were nothing to do with his department but can be switched off.

Mr Renouf added: ‘It’s an optional notification which the company behind the app charge for. In all instructions we have given out to people we have drawn people’s attention to the fact that it is chargeable. It’s a default setting in the app and as it is not our app, we cannot change it.’

To switch off the setting drivers must go into the notification panel on the app and switch off SMS Reminders and SMS Receipts before hitting the update button. The changes are then permanent.

The app trial was launched on Wednesday. A total of 17 per cent of drivers using Green Street Car Park used the app – 97 cars.

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