THE end of the road could be in sight for the pockets of small change needed to feed parking meters.
Like Her Majesty, most motorists say they rarely carry coins and many do not carry any cash at all.
They clear their pockets of coins at the end of each day and many drivers no longer even carry notes because they rely solely upon the convenience of their plastic debit or credit cards.
They clear their pockets of coins at the end of each day and many drivers no longer even carry notes because they rely solely upon the convenience of their plastic debit or credit cards.
A survey carried out by a company promoting the switch to cashless parking meters claims to indicate that most motorists will be happy to pay for parking via their mobile phone.
It is expected that motorists will be unable to use coins to feed meters anyway within a few years but this survey suggests that the switch to on-line payments will not be resisted by many.
According to RingGo, the cashless parking company, we hate carrying coins and get rid of them whenever we can.
The survey found that the vast majority of us carry less than 5 in coins on a regular basis, which is barely enough for a morning's parking in most UK city centres.
Half of the men and a third of the women questioned had less than 1 in their pockets or purses. Just eight of the 60 men and five of the 26 women said they actively collect coins to use in parking machines. The rest empty their pockets of them at the end of each day.
RingGo commercial director, Harry Clarke, says: "With more than 80 per cent of UK adults owning a mobile phone and 86 per cent being debit or credit card holders, it makes sense to use them to pay for parking."
With cashless parking, the driver makes a local phone call, giving a four-digit car park location number and the vehicle and payment details. The system charges the parking session to the caller's credit or debit card with an additional fee of 30p.
A text alert warns users that their parking time is about to expire and this can be extended using the mobile phone.
For business users VAT receipts are available online and parking attendants can check valid parkers via handheld devices.
The survey found that the most common use of coins among male motorists is to lever lids off paint tins and to improvise as screwdrivers.
