From 23 September, we are rolling out RingGo, the UK’s leading cashless parking provider, at eight locations across the south west: Roadford Lake, Fernworthy Reservoir, Trenchford Reservoir, Siblyback Lake, Argal Lake, Tamar Lakes, Wimbleball Lake and Wistlandpound Reservoir. We hope that introducing RingGo as an alternative payment method will encourage visitors to use this safer contactless option on their trips to the lakes.

RingGo will allow visitors to pay for their parking by mobile phone, as an alternative to touching a shared machine keypad for cards or cash. The charity is recommending RingGo for motorists as the quickest and safest way to pay for parking as they arrive to enjoy the beauty of nature and crisp fresh air this autumn.

RingGo offers motorists a choice of ways to pay: the most popular is via the RingGo app, which can be downloaded free of charge from the App Store or Google Play Store. Those without a smartphone can book their parking by calling, sending a text message, or paying online. 

For visitors who pay for parking via RingGo, there is no need to display a ticket in the windscreen, as Countryside Wardens will check the vehicle registration details against the RingGo database, using an internet connected handheld device.

Visitors to the lakes who have not used RingGo elsewhere should download the free RingGo app and register their details, or go to RingGo.co.uk and complete the registration online.  This will ensure they can park quickly and easily whenever they need to. Anyone who would like to try cashless parking for the first time can do the same.

Neil Reeves, Head of Environment and Community at South West Lakes, said, “We have seen incredible visitor numbers to the South West Lakes car parks over the last six months as people have been really grateful to get out and enjoy the freedom and connection with nature that our lakes offer. We are always looking at ways to improve the visitor experience and safety of our sites, so the introduction of touch free parking with RingGo means that motorists can pay to park quickly and easily without having to use pay and display machines.

“Parking revenues collected at our sites help towards the maintenance and upkeep of our locations along with our hugely valuable conservation work, so we’re sure visitors understand these charges are in place for the right reason.  We’re just extremely pleased that with RingGo, we can now offer these payments in a manner which makes things as safe as possible for both visitors and staff.”

Peter O’Driscoll, Managing Director for RingGo said, “South West Lakes manage incredibly beautiful sites across the South West.  We’re delighted to be able to help the charity in its aim of sharing these sites safely, with more and more motorists.”

For more information about car parking at the lakes, click here.