July 2006
Hi Tech Payment Solution For Parking Comes to Birmingham

The need to rush off and find change to put in the pay and display machines will soon be a thing of the past when Birmingham City Council introduces payment for car parking by mobile phone in all of its off street pay and display car parks and central zone on street spaces from July 2006. The system, provided by Gloucesteshire based Verrus UK Ltd, will offer motorists an alternative means of payment to the existing pay and display machines.

By calling or texting the number advertised on signage in the car parks, motorists will be able to pay for their parking from the comfort of their vehicles without the need to go to a pay and display machine. Motorists will be able to receive reminder text messages informing them their time is about to expire and extend their parking by phone. Motorists manage their account via a web interface where they can change their profile and print off receipts for business expense purposes.

“One of the major benefits of the Verrus system is that motorists do not have to pre-register and wait for a device or card to arrive in the post before they can use the system.” commented Robin Bevan, CEO of Verrus UK Ltd. “ The first time a customer calls or texts the advertised number, they enter their registration and credit card details and can pay for their parking on the same call. On subsequent calls they only need enter their length of stay and a four digit location number”.

The motorist pays for the system in the form of a small service charge; where the tariff is under £2, 10p is added to their parking charge and 20p is added where it exceeds £2. The full value of the parking transaction then appears on their credit card statement.

Enforcement is carried out on Blackberry handheld units. Attendants simply log onto the Verrus website and query a database by keying in the four digit location number shown on car park signage. The license plate and expiry time of all cars parked through the Verrus system is displayed on the handheld unit.

The system has already been successfully implemented in York, Salisbury and Cardiff and will shortly be introduced in Cheltenham, Lincoln and Colchester.

Commenting on the new system, Terry Powell, BCC’s Head of Parking said: “Not only will phone payment make it easier for the motorist to pay but the text reminder and top up features of the Verrus system should mean far fewer of our customers will find themselves breaking our parking rules”

Notes for Editors:
Verrus is the leading provider of phone based payment systems within the parking industry in North America. The Verrus service is currently available on over 130,000 parking spaces across North America – a number that is set to rise to over 250,000 spaces by the end of 2006.

Verrus set up an operation in Europe in late 2004 to roll out the same suite of services that have proved so successful in North America. Verrus launched its first UK based service in June 2005 with Apcoa Parking in both Cardiff and Southampton and has subsequently launched it’s services across all off-street car parks in the City of York, Salisbury DC and with NCP in Cardiff.

Verrus UK Ltd will shortly be launching its phone based parking services in Cheltenham, Colchester, Lincoln and central London.

Contact details:
Verrus (UK) Ltd.
e-mail: rbevan@verrus.com
or
email: atyreman@verrrus.com
tel: 0870 112 6412