New £1 coin parking headache in Shropshire not over yet

Although on-street pay and display machines in Shrewsbury, plus the machines at the Bridge Street, Raven Meadows and St Austin’s Street car parks, now accept the new £1 coin, along with card payments, that is not the case in other parts of Shropshire.

In Bridgnorth, the machines at the Sainsbury’s, Innage Lane and Listley Street car parks now accept the new coin and all machines in Much Wenlock’s car parks have also been converted.

But the council is still waiting for its supplier to convert the remaining machines including those at the main long and short-stay car park in Frankwell, Shrewsbury, and more than 70 others across the county.

Zoe Mortimer, the council’s engineering and contracts manager, said: “Of Shropshire Council’s off-street car parks, 73 machines in 34 operational car parks are to be upgraded shortly, and these now have an information notice to advise the start date across the county of the upgrades. As soon as these updates are completed at each car park individually, a revised information notice will be placed on the machine regarding coin acceptance to inform our customers.”

Gareth Profitt, spokesman for Shropshire Council, said: “Unfortunately we’re not the only council in the country waiting for this work to be done and, as such, are in a queue. However, the outstanding machine conversions are now expected to begin on August 14 and, as individual machines are converted, notices will be placed on them. Also, we’ll announce at a future date when everything is complete.”

Steve Davenport, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “We appreciate that this is frustrating for many people and apologise for any inconvenience caused. However, this work will soon be complete and we thank people for their patience while it is carried out.”

In the meantime, the unconverted pay and display parking machines will accept all other denominations of UK coins. In Shrewsbury, people also have the option of paying by phone at Bridge Street and St Austin’s Street car parks.

Car parking officers have been made aware that people may need to leave their vehicles for a short period while they find the correct coins.

Shropshire Council had said that all car parking machines would be converted by the end of last month.

Powys County Council has installed 55 new pay and display machines at its car parks.

The old £1 coin goes out of circulation in October.