The Corporation of Hamilton is considering eliminating parking machines in the city next year.

Motorists have expressed concern about malfunctioning pay-and-display parking machines in Hamilton's car parks.

And Corporation secretary Roger Sherratt announced that several solutions are currently being reviewed, including a futuristic electronic device that could eliminate having to use parking machines ever again.

Yesterday one woman, who "hit the jackpot'' when she attempted to use one City Hall car park machine, complained of machines there often "acting up''.

And Tuesday's edition of The Royal Gazette included a letter to the Editor from resident Debra-Ann Tucker, complaining of the "continuous problem'' with the machines in Bull's Head Car Park.

Ms Tucker said: "At least two days of each week they are not functioning properly. I have seen on a few occasions where only one machine is working on a level and we have to wait anywhere up to five minutes to get a ticket.'' "These machines need to be maintained daily or an alternative way of paying needs to be found,'' she said. Ms Tucker recommended that one possible way of eliminating problems with machines could be by using parking permits.

"These can be issued quarterly, semi-annually or annually,'' she suggested.

"Because the permits are prepaid, certain parking bays could be allocated to certain permit holders.

"Also because a client is prepaying for services that they may not fully use during their time frame, a small discount could be given.'' Mr. Sherratt said the idea was already one of the avenues being pursued in trying to avoid problems with parking machines.

"We are looking at providing special permits which enable you to pay for your parking in advance,'' he explained. But Mr. Sherratt added that this was only one of the possible solutions that Corporation members had come up with in their "brainstorming''.

Parking machines may be scrapped Another included the introduction of a new set of "very modern'' pay-and-display machines which allow the customer to buy his or her voucher with a credit card.

"While we are reasonably confident that these machines will work perfectly,'' he said, "we do have over 40 pay-and-display machines in Hamilton and there are any number of problems that could affect them.'' Mr. Sherratt explained: "One of the main factors that stops many machines working perfectly is Bermuda's high humidity.'' The secretary added, however, that, soon, all kinds of pay-and-display machines could be a thing of the past. He said the Corporation had been, for the last six months, looking at a "new kind of technology'' which would make paying for parking a whole lot easier. Calling the technology "revolutionary'', Mr. Sherratt explained that the subject in question would have a specially designed electronic device mounted on their vehicle.

"The user would be able to prepay for certain amount of parking, enter into the computerised device where they are parking and the amount would be automatically deducted from their parking account,'' he said.

Although Mr. Sherratt emphasised that this technology was still in its early stages, he was hopeful that drivers would be able to use the device by the middle of next year.

"The device would be able to be used in any of the City's main car parks and, hopefully in parking spaces along the street also,'' he said. Mr. Sherratt explained that the technology would undergo extensive testing to make sure it worked perfectly, but added: "We are quite optimistic that this idea will provide us with an excellent solution to the parking machine problem.'' In the meantime, the secretary expressed apologies to the public on behalf of the Corporation, saying: "I know it can be very frustrating when you're trying to get to work in the morning and there are problems with the machines.

However, I want everyone to know that we are committed to solving the problems and are looking at various options right now.''