Parking card features colour change

Press, 2 June 1989, Page 1

Parking card features colour change

PA Blenheim A new concept in metered parking, which is already superseding parking coupons, was revealed in Blenheim yesterday. A colour change tag which hangs in car windows is the invention of two Christchurch men, Messrs Harry Cockburn and Tom Tothill, who presented it to the national seminar of parking enforcement authorities this week.

The colour change tag consists of a liquid element in a plastic tube which changes colour at a set rate when another liquid is added, Mr Tothill said. The second liquid is released by pressing a bulb at the bottom of the tube, which is mounted on a card.

from the car window.

ance of meters.

Depending on the parking times allowed by authorities, parking cards could cover a time range from 15 minutes to nine hours, he said. The new cards, which can be classified as automatic parking coupons, have a number of advantages, including being easy to read, quicker to check by parking wardens and reducing overheads with lower mainten-

The new tags would be launched in Christchurch next month, Mr Tothill said, but already his company, Time Ticket International, had received inquiries, including a number from overseas.

Gradation up the tube is marked by time-expiry lines on the backing card, which is hung

Several delegates agreed that the new system would be foolproof and would mean more revenue for local authorities.