Guest Column | Maurice Bennett | Westminster Telephone Parking

I believe that this newly introduced scheme is illegal because (i) it discriminates against that doesn’t have a mobile phone; (ii) the cost of parking is not displayed; (iii) there is no warning of the additional charges that are incurred by having to ring a premium rate number; (iv) you don’t get immediate confirmation of the transaction and therefore you may have left the scene before the charge has been confirmed (if, for example, you jumped on an underground train, you might not discover for some time and a penalty would automatically be incurred).  Even if the above are not all illegal, it is extremely badly thought out and the whole scheme is engineered solely for Westminster making even more money, without any consideration being given to members of the public that are not completely at home with electronic communications.

Urgent changes are required!