A new trial to encourage the use of mobile phone payment for parking could spell the beginning of the end of the humble parking meter.

Brighton and Hove City Council will take 34 pay-and-display meters out of service on Monday to encourage drivers to use alternative methods of payment.

The council hopes PayByPhone and PayPoint shops will save it thousands of pounds in maintenance costs.

The trial, to run until February, will see ticket machines in Dyke Road, East Street, Portland Road and Rock Street covered up.

The council said the trial would gauge public response to removing some of the city’s 1,300 street machines, which at present cost £4,500 each to replace.

The council wants to extend cashless payment to most of its on-street parking after use of the scheme doubled in months.

The system was introduced along the seafront in 2013 for on-street parking bays and at ten council-owned car parks.

The number of parking-by-phone payments has doubled since the system was widened in the summer, with more than 70,000 people and companies registering to use the service for the first time in the city.

The transactions are visible on handheld devices used by civil enforcement officers so motorists do not have to display a ticket in their vehicle.

Alternatively, motorists can pay by cash in the city’s 140 PayPoints in convenience stores, newsagents and off-licences.

Stephen Young, of Brighton and Hove Living Streets, said: “Our pavements are cluttered and are difficult for pedestrians to navigate so I approve of anything that makes it easier to get around.

“When people pay by cash it feels like more than when you make an online payment so maybe people will be less roused to ire if they pay with cashless forms.

“We are moving towards a cashless society. It’s a technological inevitability.”

Mark Astbury, commercial director of PayByPhone, said: “With technology changing fast, mobile phone parking, usually through an app, is taking over.”

l Hastings Borough Council has said sorry to motorists for problems with new chip and pin pay-and-display machines in Pelham Place car park, which have been unable to accept card payments for weeks.

The council said a bug in software installed by a contractor meant the machines no longer work with the card reader. They hope to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.