It’s one of the biggest frustrations of parking your car in town – struggling to find enough change to feed the pay and display machine.

And you know you’re likely to end up over-paying because the machines don’t give change! But that problem could soon be at an end in Ipswich – at least as far as the borough council’s car parks are concerned.

New machines have been installed in most town centre car parks operated by the borough which enable users to pay by card, including by contactless payment, as well as by coins.

The machines have been installed across the town since the start of the year. Most borough car parks now have them – and councillors are hoping this will make them more popular as shoppers start thinking of where to spend their money in the run-up to Christmas.

Colin Kreidewolf, who is deputy portfolio holder for economic development, said: “We feel our car parks offer excellent value, and now with these new machines they are much easier to use – drivers now don’t have to come with a pocketful of coins.”

New machines have been installed at Crown car park, the West End Road car park (near Ipswich station), Elm St, Portman Road, Smart Street, Regent car park, and Great Gipping Street car park. They are about to be installed at William Street.