Plans have been put in motion to replace numerous car park ticket machines in Amersham following several ongoing issues.

The current pieces of equipment, which have only been in the town since 2022, have been reported to Buckinghamshire Council after residents raised concerns that they were not able to pay for their space. 

It’s been revealed that those using the machines haven’t been able to use them effectively due to technical errors.

The machines in question are cashless, with users having to pay for spaces via apps such as RingGo.

However, despite the hefty investment, Buckinghamshire Council are looking to replace the machines in the near future.

Steve Broadbent, who is the Cabinet Member for Transport as well as the Council’s deputy leader, addressed the ongoing issues at a meeting on July 16.

He said: “Our parking strategy makes the point that even post Covid, cash payments have fallen to around 10 per cent of all payments.

“We are trying to maintain cash payments in car parks for as long as economically possible.

“On top of that, there is a situation in and around Amersham where some of the car parking money was spent in 2022 to invest in new machines.

“These were not cash-taking machines, but instead, cashless.

“I am aware that some of these machines are not operating as the council would expect, but what residents would expect is that we have challenged our supplier on that matter.

“The route of the problem caused by the machines remains unresolved, despite their efforts.

"The council have demanded that the machines be replaced.

“We will explore legal avenues to address the situation so that we can bring back car parking machines to the functionality usage that we would expect as a council.

“There are contractual elements around that so it would be wrong of me to go into details.

“We need functioning machines in those car parks.

“It’s a real shame following the investment we made back in 2022.”

No time frame has been given on when they will replaced.

One of the earliest reports of them not working was in April 2023, when a resident claimed that ‘some of the machines’ in the town’s multi-storey car park had stopped functioning.

Many other shoppers and car park users agreed, with machines in Old Amersham also not working.

To watch the meeting, go to https://buckinghamshire.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/893334.