The latest Government advice is to stay at home or stay local to help tackle the spread of Covid-19, but for anyone whose travel is essential, the latest upgrade to parking facilities will be a real time-saver.
‘LatePay’ is offered by APCOA, which has taken over the management of the train station car parks for rail operator Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR). It works in 61 of the firm’s 149 car parks, click here to see station list that use CCTV pictures of number plates (automatic number plate recognition or ‘ANPR’) to automatically check who’s parked where and when.
Using the APCOA Connect website, motorists can, for no extra fee, pay later, to save themselves time at the station or avoid a parking fine if they forgot to pay when they arrived. They can even do it after they’ve come back and driven away, up to 24 hours after they first arrived.
David Gornall, Commercial Director at GTR, said: “LatePay is a valuable improvement we think passengers will welcome right now, if they have no choice but to travel, and in the future when the pandemic is behind us and people come back to the railway in greater numbers. It’s one of a number of features that we believe will improve the customer experience through the introduction of our new parking management partners, APCOA.”
Passengers can also pay by bank or credit card using the payment machines at car parks. However, to help limit the spread of Covid-19 and for the safety of customers and staff, cash payments are not being accepted.
Kim Challis, APCOA’s Regional Managing Director UK&I, said: “We are delighted this important contract with Govia Thameslink is now up and running, adding to APCOA’s growing rail portfolio and enabling GTR customers to take advantage of options like LatePay. APCOA prides itself on customer service and innovation and will continue to invest in the design and development of new market-leading software solutions and products for the benefit of our customers.”
GTR offers free parking at most of its stations for disabled motorists who hold a Blue Badge permit. GTR has written to Blue Badge holders asking them to register and apply for a new permit by 31 January. They do need to register when parking at ANPR car parks, but no registration is required when they park at car parks without ANPR.
