City of York Council is launching an exciting new 'pay by text' service to make parking in the city centre even easier.

Users of the council's innovative cashless payment system for car parking, which enables people to pay for their car parking by phone, will now also be able to pay by text.

Motorists who register for the text service will be able to pay for their parking by texting 0795 008 0201, a number that will be clearly advertised in all of the council's car parks. To register for the scheme, all people need to do is text the word 'HELP' to the advertised number and they will then receive a message back showing them the correct way to text in their data. This involves texting the parking location code; number of hours parking required; vehicle registration number; and credit or debit card details.

Each time they want to use a car park, registered users will then simply need to text the four-digit car park code and the length of stay. They will then receive a text message confirming where they are parked and what time their parking expires.  As with the voice service, people can receive reminder texts and add parking time by text.

For those motorists who are used to texting, it will be the simplest and fastest way to use the system, but even people who are not used to text messaging will find the new system simple to use.

Text messages are charged at the standard rate of whichever mobile phone network the motorist uses.  Service charges for using the Verrus system are 10 pence for a parking fee of less than £2.00; 20 pence for a parking fee of £2 or more; and 75 pence for a weekly ticket (50p for low emission vehicles); 10 pence for a text reminder and 10 pence to extend your parking.