“Convenience Fee” to park in local area
As part of their RingGo scheme, which allows you to pay for parking using a credit or debit card through your mobile phone, Cheshire East Council has introduced a so-called “convenience fee” for motorists using their mobile phone to pay for parking in Macclesfield, Wilmslow, Alderley Edge, Knutsford and Congleton.
The scheme has been extended to incorporate most of the Council’s pay and display parking. For transactions over 40p done using RingGo, there will now be a 20p fee added.
A spokesperson for Cheshire East Council, said: “We now offer a variety of payment options to our residents and visitors. In addition to RingGo, coin payments, contactless and chip and pin options for debit and credit cards are also available.
“There is no convenience fee for using debit or credit cards or making cash payments. Conditions for use are clearly stated on all our machines.
“The convenience fee has been implemented in conjunction with the installation and commissioning of our new pay-and-display parking machines. This allows the council to facilitate the continuation of this useful provision but to pass on the cost to the service user and not the council tax payers of Cheshire East.
“If regular users of the cashless mobile app solution don’t want to pay the convenience fee, there are a number of alternative payment options available.
“We only allow ‘top-ups’ on long-stay car parks where motorists are permitted to park for a full day. When one full-day session expires, a top-up can be made. In this instance, a further convenience fee would be applied.
“We don’t allow top-ups on short stay car parks as their primary purpose is to encourage and facilitate shoppers and visitors to our town centres. We need to ensure an appropriate turnaround of available spaces.
“The convenience fee is only applied to transactions above 40p and there are car parks throughout the borough where parking sessions are at this level or below – such as the Town Hall in Macclesfield, The Carrs in Wilmslow, South Street in Alderley Edge, Booths in Knutsford along with the Antrobus Street, Princess Street and Fairground car parks in Congleton.”
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