A businessman claimed that town centre shops had lost trade as people feared they would be fined for not paying to park – because Cheshire East’s meters were not accepting card payments.
Cheshire East issued a statement on Friday admitting that some of its pay and display machines in towns across the borough were not accepting card payments “because of a third-party issue which is out of the council’s control”.
It is understood the problem, which began earlier in the week, could also be affecting some other areas of the country, (writes local democracy reporter Belinda Ryan).
Richard Slater, of Henbury Travel, Macclesfield, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We’ve had the quietest week for the past two years.
“Footfall in the town centre has flatlined this week. People don’t know whether they can park.”
The statement issued by Cheshire East on Facebook said: “Supplier engineers need to attend all the affected pay and display machines to carry out a manual reset.
“This began yesterday and will also be taking place today.
“Crewe and Nantwich machines are now back online.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused and are working with suppliers to get this resolved as soon as possible.
“In the meantime, payments can still be made via RingGo, or by cash at some car parks.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service contacted the council to ask if people who could not pay would be fined if they parked. It was pointed out there were very few parking machines that take cash following Cheshire East’s decision to go cashless and that some people may not have smartphones and so can’t pay by app.
