Westminster City Council is to introduce 'wave and pay' parking meters, enabling motorists to use their contactless debit and credit cards to pay for parking in central London.
The council is to perform a trial run of the new meters at 20 locations in the West End from early next year. If the pilot is a success the technology - supplied by Parkeon - will be rolled out across Westminster.
Westminster City Council ripped out its old-style coin meters in March due to repeated vandalism. Some of the replacement meters incorporate Chip and PIN readers, but most require users to set up an account and pay by mobile phone.
It will be the first test of contactless payments at parking meters in the UK, and will be watched with interest by other council wards. Southampton City Council is understood to be interested in introducing the system.