CAR park payment machines going offline have prompted one local councillor to say the issue is temporary and that a “fee suspension” has been requested.

Chiltern Ridges ward Councillor Jane MacBean took to social media to reassure residents in Chesham and Amersham that parking machines “going offline all at once” is the result of old devices installed at the same time – and that residents can still pay by cash.

Cllr MacBean said she is aware of issues in Sycamore Road in Amersham and town centre car parks in Chesham.

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She also said the machines are “not being phased out or removed”, that a new maintenance contractor is being sought, and that she had also shared with the Head of Parking residents’ frustrations over app accessibility and the cost of the phone booking system.

She added the parking team had apologised for the inconvenience.

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Posting online, Cllr MacBean wrote: “The Head of Parking has responded to my email raising concerns about the problems accessing working parking machines and has confirmed that the pay machines in the Chesham and Amersham car parks are not being phased out or removed.

“Apparently, many of the machines that we have are quite old and many of them were installed at the same time, which is why so many are going offline all at once.

“There is also a real problem in contracting qualified maintenance officers so it’s taking the parking team longer to bring machines back online than it has done in the past.

“This is temporary, and the parking team have apologised for the inconvenience it is causing. They are currently out to tender for a new maintenance contractor but hope to be back up to full speed as soon as possible.

“I have shared the frustrations of residents over the app not always being accessible and the phone booking system being more expensive and asked whether any fee suspension is being considered whilst a maintenance crew is being contracted.”

Speaking about Sycamore Road in Amersham, and town centre car parks in Chesham, she added: “I am assured there are working machines in each location so residents can still pay by cash and staff are re-checking signage on the broken machines to give the most recent update on progress.”