More than 40 railway station car parks are going cashless across the county.

Southeastern will no longer be taking payments for parking at station ticket offices or vending machines from Monday, August 19.

Drivers will need to pay for their parking tickets using the APCOA connect app at 45 Southeastern car parks at 38 train stations.

Using this app people can make payments by credit or debit card and will not have to display a paper ticket.

Thanet Parkway and Ebbsfleet International are not inculded in this move as their car parks are operated by other bodies.

Southeastern’s passenger services director, David Wornham, said the new “modern” system is the “most cost-effective, efficient and secure” way for the firm to manage its car parks.

ANPR will allow payment for parking up to 24 hours after arrival by using ‘LatePay’ using a bank card on APCOA's Connect website. This means customers can pay later that day when convenient to them. If a person is travelling but doesn’t use smartphone apps, nor pay by card over the phone then they could ask a friend/relative to pay for them later.

A period of around 15 minutes is granted once the vehicle has entered the camera zone to allow for dropping off or picking up. After this time a payment may be required at the applicable tariff.

Non-payment will result in a postal penalty notice being issued.

While Blue Badge holders do not pay, they will need to follow instructions on how to register their vehicle for their stay.

He said: “Later this year we are switching to an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system at 45 station car parks, which will be operated by our contractor APCOA.

“This is the most cost-effective, efficient, and secure way to manage our car parks, and customers will be able to buy tickets in several ways both online, and by phone.

“ANPR is a modern system that is widely used by train operators and across other business sectors.

“In the coming days we will be explaining the changes to our customers and setting out the easy ways they can pay for parking without needing to queue at a ticket office or payment machine.

“Payment information, along with a list of the station car parks that are being upgraded, is available on our website.”

Visit www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/travel-information/more-travel-help/car-parking to find out more.

Meanwhile, an APCOA spokesperson said: "ANPR is widely used in both the UK parking industry and across Europe and has been in operation for more than 15 years.

"It offers flexible payment options for customers as well as a simplified parking experience by automatically monitoring vehicles in all kinds of locations from hospitals to retail, leisure, airports and education.

“Should drivers have any queries, they can continue to use our national customer service centre which supports the ANPR system in exactly the same way".