HOPES have been raised that a new parking machine will end the reputation of a car park making a west Wales seaside village ‘no-go’ zone.

In the last few years, a privately-owned car park at the Ceredigion village of Llangrannog’s beachfront made national headlines, with fears £100 fines were making the village a ‘no-go’ zone.

A malfunctioning pay and display machine has meant users had to phone a number to arrange payment or download and use an app to register payment – options often thwarted by poor internet.

Some motorists who managed to pay for a ticket after struggling to get a signal have subsequently been fined for over-running a 10-minute period of grace at the car park, run and managed by Worthing-based One Parking Solution Ltd.

At the height of the car park chaos, Dr Kathryn Dawes, secretary of the Llangrannog Welfare Committee, said: “The community feel helpless and horrified at the bad press and bad feeling this is generating.

“It’s so upsetting when people declare they will never come to Llangrannog again, all because of a small square of car park in the middle of the village.”

The plight of motorists caught out by slow connections was previously taken up by Sara Powell, a retired barrister from nearby New Quay, who had called on anyone receiving such a fine to fight it.

Earlier this week, Dr Dawes said it was hoped new machinery – using a simpler old tech method of parking payments – would now solve previous problems.

“The Llangrannog beachfront car park has a new parking machine which takes coins and cards. You can also use JustPark to pay (but wifi is very slow).

“The rule that you must pay within 10 minutes of entering the car park remains in place. There are new signs which clearly state the conditions of parking.”

She warned: “It should be noted that vandalism of the new machine or any car park property will be on CCTV.

"Please do not tamper with the machine; this means others cannot pay and is counter-productive.

“We hope that the new machine will alleviate the problems with the car park over the last few years.”

One Parking Solution Ltd has been contacted for a response.

Western Telegraph: The new machinery and signage at Llangrannog car park. The new machinery and signage at Llangrannog car park. (Image: Dr Kathryn Dawes.)