ANPR is coming to Ashford

As part of the council’s on-going programme of investment in our car parks we are introducing automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology to the borough.

So what is it and how do you use it?

ANPR provides a simple and flexible approach to paying for parking. ANPR technology uses cameras to record the registration number of vehicles as they arrive and exit the car park. 

Upon entry to a car park, the vehicle number plate is scanned. On returning to the car park, enter your registration number on the touch-screen machines and then pay the price of your stay.  If you have an on-line account, it’s even easier, as your account can be automatically debited for the time you have stayed. 

Only ever pay for what you use

This new technology allows customers to leave vehicles for as long as you wish and you only ever pay for what you use.  No longer will you have to worry about losing a parking ticket, or having to dash back to the car park as you’ve run out of time and might get a dreaded parking fine.

Not only does this provide a more flexible parking offer for our residents, it allows the council to better understand parking usage and patterns so that we can better tailor our offers to match our customers’ needs.

Residents will be encouraged to sign up for an account with the council and provide vehicle and payments details, which will then allow the automatic payments to be made.

Signing up will be easy, fast and secure.  Residents will also be able to pay by cash, credit card and by phone.

To start with we are introducing this system at Elwick Place car park (next to the Picturehouse cinema), with plans to roll it out all suitable car parks across the borough in the future.