ANPR arrives in Ashford

A new way to pay for parking

As part of the council’s on-going programme of investment in our car parks we are starting to introduce automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology. The Elwick Place Car Park in Ashford Town Centre will be the first car park to go live with ANPR and it starts as of Monday 16^th November. 

What is ANPR?

ANPR is a new technology which stands for Automatic Number Plate Recognition.  It means that registration plates can now be read by cameras as they enter and the leave car parks in order to establish how long they park for.

Why is ANPR being used?

ANPR will improve the quality and convenience using the car park.  It is widely used in both public and private car parks up and down the UK. 

Which car parks in the Borough of Ashford have ANPR in use?

Currently Ashford Borough Council will have just one car park in town that has been adopted to the new technology.  More are to follow.  

What’s different?

You can expect to see new barriers, cameras and payment machines.

You can set up an account for ticketless parking which allows you to pay in advance.  This works by the cameras recognising your number plate as you enter and leave the car park and automatically debiting the cost of the parking session from the balance you have pre-paid online. This means you never have to go to a payment machine again.

Alternatively, if you do not have account you can pay using contactless, card payments, cash or RingGo at this car park.

How does it affect disabled parking?

If you have a Blue Badge, you can get up to three hours of free parking in the new ANPR car park.  You will have to register your badge against your online account in order for the discount to be applied.  You will still need to display your Blue Badge when parking in an ANPR car park.

You can change your registered vehicle as many times as you like (for example, if friends or family drive you at different times) but you can only have one registered at one time.

For advice on motorcycle parking in ANPR car parks, take a look at the council’s website.