The way motorists pay for parking in a town centre is changing.

Users of the Rathmore Road, Ordnance Road, and Parrock Street car parks, in Gravesend, will soon be asked to pay at the end of their stay, rather than on arrival.

Leader of Gravesham Borough Council, Cllr John Burden, said: "Currently, when you park in one of our car parks you have to estimate the amount of time you think you are going to need and pay accordingly.

"This means if your stay is overrunning you have to go back and top up your payment, or you may end up leaving before your time has expired, meaning you have paid more than you needed to.

"Under our new system, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras will record the time you arrive.

"When you return to your vehicle, the exact amount of time you have been parked for will be calculated and you will only be charged for that tariff or period."

Currently, drivers can pay to use the council-owned car parks by using the ticket machines or via parking app RingGo.

But after the new system is introduced, they will need to pay by either registering for Autopay via the council's website to set up automatic payments, use RingGo PayLater, pay at any of the machines using cash, card or contactless, or use contactless payment at the exit barrier.

Those with a season ticket or worker’s permit will have their details recognised by the new system so do not need to change anything.

Cllr Burden added: "I know many would like parking in our town centre car parks to be free 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"But if we were to do away with charges, we would need to find other ways of covering that income, such as through council tax, or we would need to make difficult decisions about which services we would need to review to cover the reduced money available to us.

"I believe this new system is fair in that it ensures visitors to Gravesend pay only for the time they are parked.

"And because the new barrier system will ensure 100% compliance with charges, our civil enforcement officers can focus more of their time on safety related restrictions and problem areas such as local schools."

Rathmore Road will be the first to adopt the new system next month.

Parking will remain free between 6pm and 8am, all day on Sundays and for two hours on Saturdays.