Newry’s new parking machines will stop ‘Good Samaritan’ ticket sharing

And concerns have also been raised over “significant” ratepayers’ investment in ticket machines rather than pothole repairs at council carparks.

The purchase and installation for 45 modern replacement machines has now been deferred by the council’s recent strategy, policy and resources committee for a further report on income and spend.

The new machines are to replace current off street car park tickets machines that are almost 20 years old with very limited life span remaining, according to the council report.

The new modern machines will allow for contactless, cash and App payments.

The car parking report also shows a council strategy to buy the machines will include vehicle registration key pads in an attempt to put a stop to the “costly practice of ticket transfer between vehicles”.

This refers to when drivers, often out of courtesy, hand over a ticket to a fellow driver when paid time is still left on their parking tickets to allow the other driver the paid time.

However some local councils and parking authorities generally consider it a violation and there are already many such ‘vehicle registration’ machines across Northern Ireland.

The new machines ask for individual car registration to match up with the paid time ensuring only the one vehicle can use the parking time.

Downpatrick Sinn Fein councillor Oonagh Hanlon said: “I have a number of questions about this report, I feel that there is information missing and the cost appears to be significant.

“Where is the council using the revenue from carparks that are charging at the minute? We are putting new pay and display machines in car parks without dealing with the overall car parking issue.

“One of the things that struck me is that this is said to improve the parking experience for service users.

“Well I would draw attention to the town centre carpark in Downpatrick, where if you were wearing a pair of high heels you’d break your neck, because it is so uneven with potholes.”

Councillor Hanlon added: “We are not even considering putting any resources into resurfacing that since 2019 that has been talked about.

“This report has come a wee bit out of the blue, but it is extremely concerning that we are not really looking at what income we are taking in."

A council officer asked for further time to look into the concerns raised with a report due back to the committee.

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council CEO Marie Ward then told the chamber that the matter would be brought back to the committee following further discussion at the strategy and finance working group in mid November.

Further discussions on the car parking policy were then held in confidential session away from the public and the media.