'We're nervous of parking apps,' say older drivers

Older drivers have admitted to feeling "extremely nervous" of using cashless car parks out of fear they will be hit with a parking charge or scammed.

They voiced their concerns to the BBC after Roland Nice, 89, from Bury St Edmunds, in Suffolk, was handed a £60 fine after being left confused over how to pay to park.

He is one of millions of people who suffer a similar fate each year. According to the RAC, a record 16.9 million parking charges were issued by private companies in 2025/26.

While not all of those fines were a result of mature motorists' struggle with technology, many of the region's more senior citizens do feel the digital divide is widening.

Car parking apps are mobile phone applications that enable drivers to pay for parking digitally.

Users usually select their location, enter their vehicle details and pay through the app, with parking enforcement officers able to check payments electronically.

Angela Carruthers, 79, from Kelvedon, in Essex, said she recently went into a Colchester car park only to find its ticket machine replaced with an app.

Having been unable to pay after the app reportedly failed to work, she says she was now "waiting with trepidation" to see if she gets a £100 fine.

"We've been using this car park for many years, but as we drove in, we noticed instructions to pay by app only," she said.

"There were small groups of people trying to download the app, with varying degrees of success.

"I am used to using various apps, but with parking, an alternative method of payment by card should always be available."

Paul Chamberlain, 69, from Ipswich but now living in Cambridge, said he consciously avoids such car parks.

"I understand why car parks do it because obviously if they haven't got cash then there's no chance of money getting stolen or machines broken into," he said.

"But I get extremely nervous about paying through my phone for car parking because a lot of them rely on QR codes.

"You hear so many horror stories about people putting false QR codes over the top of the notice, and that worries me a lot."

Sarah Martinelli, from Letchworth, Hertfordshire, said parking firms were "not only disingenuous towards the elderly, but also to anyone who finds parking apps tricky".

The 72-year-old said: "I tried to park in a town centre car park, but both coin and card options were out of order.

"As I was late for an appointment and couldn't work out the parking app, I took a chance and left the car there. On my return, I had a fine for £100."

Liz Pritchard, 75, was left "angry and furious" when she was fined after she said she spent 40 minutes trying to find a parking space at Northampton General Hospital.

She paid for an hour's stay but – including the time it took her to find a free bay – was clocked as being in the car park for more than 90 minutes.

"When I got the letter with the fine, I was shocked - I should only have to pay for the amount of time that I parked for," she said.

"I don't feel I should have to pay for the 40 minutes I had to drive around waiting for a space.

"There should be just one parking app that's the same in all car parks. I don't see why we should have to download half a dozen on our phones."

The BBC understands that the fine has since been rescinded as a "gesture of goodwill" by the parking company.

Hugh Turner was issued with a parking charge of £100 after a space was pre-booked for him but with the wrong registration number.

The 79-year-old, from Bures, on the Suffolk-Essex border, appealed, but to no avail, despite paying for parking, albeit for a different car.

"They reduced the charge to £20, which suggests to me they did recognise the validity of the appeal and the unjustness of their rejection of it," he said.

"I found the situation very traumatic, distressing and unfair."

Charles Cook, 81, from Clapham, in Bedfordshire, had a similar experience after pre-booking a space in Milton Keynes but parking in the wrong one.

"I'd paid for parking; there was no intention of ever not paying, but I made a mistake, and it was an error anyone, of any age, could have made," he said.

"I thought they were being unreasonable in pursuing me. I'm quite happy to go to court over it if it comes to that. I'm not prepared to be bullied into paying."

Roland Nice said he was "clobbered" with his fine after driving into the Swan Lane car park, in Haverhill, before spending eight minutes trying to work out how to pay.

After being overwhelmed by the digital payment options on offer, he wrongly believed he could not pay with cash and left to park elsewhere, despite cash payments being accepted.

He then received a £60 fine from operator Napier Parking Ltd, which told the BBC that motorists were afforded a five-minute grace period to decide whether to park or not.

Kathleen Skilton, 74, from Cambridge, believes older people – like Nice - should be afforded the same level of courtesy and respect as they are in other countries.

"I'm a dual national and have been very encouraged with the news in Chile, where they have passed a law to favour the elderly, protecting them in this digital age," she said.

"Even elderly people who are fully computer literate are failing to grasp the appalling and badly programmed digital parking permits – it's shocking.

"Instead of making life easier, they don't work properly, are highly irritating, ridiculously expensive and have to be the most convoluted programmes ever."

Rob Heard MBE, from the Old Drivers Forum, agrees that more should be done to help older people get to grips with technology.

"Nobody should be excluded from everyday life simply because they don't have a smartphone in their pocket," he told the BBC.

"Many older people use smartphones and apps perfectly well, but we shouldn't design essential everyday services on the assumption that everybody [can].

"And that's not really a driving issue, that is an accessibility and inclusion issue."

So what can be done if you are slapped with an out-of-the-blue parking charge which you do not believe you should have to pay?

Gary Rycroft, resident legal expert on BBC Morning Live and BBC Rip Off Britain, explains a parking charge from a private company is effectively an invoice for a service.

If you do not believe you have received that service, you can argue the case that you should not have to pay for it.

"It's perfectly reasonable for you to pay for that service, but if there is a quibble between you and the company, then they can't issue a fine," he said.

"What that means in legal terms is that if you disagree with them and they want to pursue you, they have to actively ask the court to enforce that debt.

"In the case of Roland, let's apply common sense: he is elderly, was struggling with the tech, and he didn't park, so he's got a pretty solid defence."

The BBC put the concerns of drivers to the British Parking Association and the International Parking Community (IPC), which monitor the standards of private parking companies.

In a statement the IPC said it took "any concerns raised about the fairness of parking charges seriously" and "continually reviews standards" across the sector.

"We encourage motorists who feel a parking charge has been issued in error to appeal, first to the operator, then the independent adjudicator," a spokesperson said.

"We welcome and appreciate concerns regarding parking technology being brought to our attention."

Sarah Hubbard, British Parking Association council member, said that "parking should be easy for everyone, regardless of age or digital confidence".

"While many motorists value the convenience of parking apps, digital innovation must go hand in hand with digital inclusion. Nobody should feel excluded or confused when trying to pay for parking," she said.

"Drivers should be able to quickly understand how to pay, what payment methods are available and how to avoid making an honest mistake.

"We're also working with the industry to make parking simpler. The National Parking Platform, for example, allows motorists to use the parking app they already have, rather than downloading different apps in different locations, helping create a more straightforward and consistent experience."

Additional reporting by Alex Dunlop and Zoie O'Brien

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