Sun power for car park machines

Solar-powered ticket machines will soon be used by motorists at car parks in an area of Cumbria.

Allerdale Borough Council is replacing 32 of its 42 machines with models powered by the sun.

A spokesman for the council said the move would be good for the environment and help the authority cut its electricity bills.

It was hoped that the new machines would be installed at a number of car parks by the end of April.

Tony Smith, the council's parking services manager, said: "Our existing machines are quite old and starting to fail and cost a lot of money in electricity bills.

"These new machines will not only make a valuable contribution in environmental terms but will give us a saving on power costs."

The remaining 10 ticket machines will be replaced with traditional mains-powered models.