Manly Council to introduce ticketless and gateless parking in public car parks

TICKETLESS technology that doesn’t work will be rolled out across Manly - despite cases of locals copping fines for parking in their own street.

Local resident Dean Logan furious was over incorrect parking ticket he received in April. Picture: Virginia Young.

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CONTROVERSIAL ticketless parking technology, similar to a system which has already infuriated residents, will be rolled out across all Manly Council car parks.

The move has led one councillor to call for the installation­ of CCTV cameras at the entrance and exit to the car parks to provide a “second line of protection”.

“Frictionless car parking” would make parking ticketless and “gateless”.

The planned $545,000 upgrade follows the introduction of ticketless metered street parking, outraging residents who were wrongly fined $106. It resulted in refunds­ for one in 10 people over the first three months.

In the car parks, drivers would have their registration plate scanned as they enter and exit.

Leslie Sargaent parked her car on North Steyne and put her rego in the ticket box. She was fined five minutes later. Picture: Vigrinia Young.

If a car leaves before two hours a short-arm boom gate automatically opens.

A council spokesman said licence plate recognition technology was already installed in the car parks and “performed satisfactorily”.

He said this system would differ as it would not employ GPS-based software or cross-reference addresses.

Councillor Hugh Burns, a sceptic of paperless ticketing, said cameras should be placed at the entrance and exit of parking stations so people could dispute charges.

“We should probably have CCTV on entrances and exits, then we can go back and check it,” he said.

Councillor Candy Bingham said the move was “premature”.

Works will start shortly on the Pacific Waves carpark, with the system expected to be rolled out across all four public car parks by early 2017.