Bushey among Hertsmere car parks going cashless next year

At a cabinet meeting yesterday (September 11), Hertsmere Borough Council agreed to transition to card and phone payments only at council-owned facilities in Borehamwood, Bushey, Potters Bar and Radlett.

Existing pay and display machines in car parks and for on-street parking currently accept payment by cash or by phone, but councillors have approved proposals to change all 112 machines in the borough to accept payment by debit and credit card instead of cash.

Drivers will continue to be able to pay by phone, which Hertsmere estimates to make up 70 per cent, with the percentage increasing each year.

Borough council car parks in Borehamwood, Bushey, Potters Bar and Radlett will all be affected. (Image: LDRS)

Council officers said it is “increasingly difficult and more expensive” to find contractors to collect cash and provide machines that accept cash. They added that maintenance had become harder due to difficulty in sourcing parts.

The council will either alter existing machines, at a cost of approximately £2,000 per machine, or replace them, at a cost of around £4,000 per machine.

Officers said it could be “expected” that any driver would have a debit or credit card, but suggested some motorists would be “surprised” to find cash-only machines.

Kemp Place car park in Bushey is one of multiple council-owned facilities going cashless. (Image: Google Street View) A contract for the work is expected to be awarded by the end of the year, with machines to be altered between January and March 2025.

Each year, the council earns around £1.2m per year from pay and display charges – but there has been a steady trend towards paying by phone.

In 2023/24, cash payments for parking in car parks came to £327,799 – down from £395,916 in 2022/23. Over the same period, phone payments for car park parking rose from £698,232 to £901,639.

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It costs the council around £16,000 each year to collect and process cash payments – a cost that would be eliminated with card payments.

Card transactions come with their own fees, of around 18p per transaction.

Drivers who pay by phone currently have to stump up the extra cost themselves, but the cost for card payments will be borne by the council.

Other councils in Hertfordshire, including in Broxbourne and Stevenage, have already stopped taking cash.