Bold plans to revolutionise Ashford’s car parking system could be introduced next year – paving the way for the end of traditional pay and display.

Council bosses want to kit out the town’s car parks with barriers and number plate-reading cameras, allowing drivers to make payment online or using a debit card.

Crucially, motorists will only be charged for the time they park – making fines for overstaying at pay-and-display sites a thing of the past.

Cameras register the details of vehicles entering before the barriers are raised, with motorists paying at a machine for the exact time used before leaving.

Ashford Borough Council’s (ABC) portfolio holder for parking Cllr Brad Bradford (Con) says the technology, which has already been successfully trialled in Canterbury, would work well in the town.

He said: “I think anything that makes the parking experience easier and less complicated for people wanting to shop in the town is a good thing.

“We have looked very carefully at it and think it will be a benefit for people who live and work in the town.

“It will be more efficient.”

"It will encourage people into the town and that will be good for town centre businesses..." - Cllr Bradford

Selected car parks are set to feature the automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) technology, which triggers barriers as vehicles pass through.

Drivers will have various payment methods at hand, including online options that avoid tedious queues at the meter.

Cllr Bradford says officers have been monitoring a six-month trial of the technology in the cathedral city, which is now being expanded to car parks across the Canterbury City Council district.

“It is working well in Canterbury,” he said.

“We are living in a society where everyone does everything with their phone and ANPR will make people’s lives easier as they could pay for parking on their mobiles.

“As a council, we are doing tonnes of work to get people into the town and parking is an integral part of that.

“ANPR only charges people for the time they stay, so it will encourage people into the town and that will be good for town centre businesses.”

ABC spokesman Christina Bailey says ANPR could be introduced as early as next year, but the authority does not yet know which car parks will be appropriate.

She said: “We are currently exploring introducing a ANPR payment system for appropriate car parks.

“Canterbury recently trialled ANPR systems on three of their car parks with great success and we hope to replicate this success in Ashford over the course of 2018.”