Westminster City Council is to start a contactless pilot for the payment of parking fees in what is claimed to be the first time UK drivers will be able to use the technology for that purpose.

From January and over a three-month period, 20 pay and display machines in the West End will be retrofitted with wave-and-pay card readers, so motorists will be able to pay car parking charges by waving a credit or debit card at a meter.

According to the local authority, the project is intended to eliminate the need to carry cash around or enter chip and pin details to pay to park.

Westminster is the largest parking authority in the UK, with more than one million vehicles entering the city's 8.5 square miles every day.

This follows 18 months of research, development and testing alongside parking systems manufacturer Parkeon and Westminster’s rollout of a mobile-based payment system that allows drivers to top up their parking charges remotely, without needing to return to vehicles.

The machines also incorporate a security function that requires cardholders to confirm their identification with a chip and pin transaction on a regular basis.

According to the council, Southampton also has plans to implement the wave-and-pay scheme next spring.