The Many Cons of Cashless Car Parks

Criminals are taking advantage of cashless car parks in the UK, covering legitimate payment QR codes with fraudulent ones and redirecting payments. Unfortunately, this is far from the only problem arising from cashless parking policies.

This is Money reports on a recent example of the scam, with London’s Barking and Dagenham Borough Council identifying ‘multiple parking signs and meters that have been covered with sham QR codes that direct users to a counterfeit website.’ It is working to remove the codes, however ‘as fast as councils and local authorities can remove these false codes, scammers can replace them, or target new car parks.’

Beyond this development, cashless car parks bring with them a wealth of other problems. One example is a person’s year-long struggle against a fine arising from them not owning a smartphone and having a health condition that went unacknowledged by the car park’s management, as reported in The Times. Had the car park accepted cash, the situation would not have arisen.

As well as excluding individuals without smartphones, and those who struggle to use them either due to physical limitations or a lack of technical knowledge, cashless payments also add extra cost for everyone, since transaction fees are typically added on top of the parking charge.

Problems can also arise in areas with poor reception—an issue that does not affect cash, which works offline, anytime, anywhere—and from confusion over which app to use (given different operators use different apps) as well as how to ensure payment has been made correctly. Some car parks require a code be entered to identify the area, and larger ones may have more than one code, meaning someone can use the wrong code when paying and risk a fine.

To make parking as secure, stress free, low cost and accessible as it can be, the answer is simple: offer cash payments alongside cashless.