A NEW parking system in Princes Risborough has left some drivers baffled this week with long queues forming.

The ANPR system was introduced in Horns Lane on August 18 and at The Mount on August 20 by Wycombe District Council.

The cameras identify the vehicles on arrival and passes this data to the pay terminals for people to pay on departure.

On return, drivers enter their vehicle registration details on the pay kiosks and it calculates how much to pay.

But Monica Nelson from Risborough said it has not been easy to use and on Tuesday a parking attendant was on hand at The Mount to help a long queue of people wishing to pay for their parking.

The 37-year-old said: "When I went he [the parking attendant] couldn't leave as there was a queue of drivers completely baffled by it.

"Every one was just raging. It is far too much technology."

She said it took a long time to pay for her parking, which starts at 30p for one hour.

Monica, who runs Musical Mayhem, said: "I don't know what it is all for. It seems unnecessary in a small town car park to have CCTV cameras and everything.

"It was just a simple system before.

"A lot of older people live in the town. It should be more straight forward."

Catherine Spalton, spokesman for Wycombe District Council, said the council has been asked by customers and business for more efficient parking systems.

She added: "As the old style pay and display machines were fast approaching life expectancy, we saw it as an opportunity to install a more modern system.

"By embracing new technology, we are now able to accommodate new developments that benefit our customers.

"For example, there’s no need to rush back to the car because your ticket is expiring, meaning you can spend more time shopping or socialising with no risk of getting a parking ticket. There are also more payment options, including paying online up to 24 hours after leaving the car park.

"In all locations our officers have provided extra customer service for the two weeks after the ANPR system was introduced. We extended this in Horns Lane for part of this week as we had some extra staffing resource available.

"In general, we’ve found that across the whole district, like any new technology, once people have used the system a couple of times they get used to it."