Residents living in controlled parking zones will no longer be able to purchase virtual parking permits for their guests thanks to technical gremlins.
The virtual permit portal was launched last year, and was initially trialled in new zones.
But a series of bugs has led to the council withdrawing the service. Residents will still be able to purchase permits either in person at Hove Town Hall or by buying online and having them posted.
A council spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, the online parking permit system used for a small number of more recent parking schemes has been subject to a number of technical issues which has made it difficult for residents to use.
“As a result, we have decided to shut the system down and integrate them to another existing system.
“Residents will still be able to purchase virtual visitor permits until Friday 24 May. After this date, existing virtual visitor permits can still be activated but no new credits can be purchased.
“Any visitor permit credits not used by Friday 5 July will be sent out to residents by post as scratch card permits before the online permit system closes.
“Resident permits can continue to be renewed using the online permit system until Monday, 15 July. After this date, residents will be able to renew their permit online via the council website while scratch card visitor permits will also be able to purchase online.
“We will be writing to all residents who use the online permit system to notify them of these changes.”
ENDS
Why fix a new online system when you can switch back to paper?! How ridiculous! I have been using this in zone K, and found it very useful to book ad hoc parking for my mum remotely if she needs to pop in while I’m at work. Switching to the paper-based system means I will now have to buy a book of vouchers for her to keep in the car, not nearly as convenient.
Develop and APP for mobile phone instead – like the PayByPhone and Ringo Apps