I WAS trying to park my car in St Helens to attend a medical appointment and to my astonishment I was confronted by a request on the parking meter to pay using a mobile app.

Two lovely young ladies came along and they managed to upload an app on to their phones and use it to pay for parking.

They were really kind and in a socially distanced way they tried their best to help me to upload an app on to my mobile phone, but I was really struggling to do it.

In the end they very kindly paid my parking fee and wouldn’t accept any cash in return. 

Their kindness meant so much to me that I thought I would write to say thank you. 

St Helens Council please sort this out – you always say that we need more visitors in the town centre so please consider the older generation.

It may have been possible to pay by phone but that would have taken quite a while too. 

I have visited car parks in different towns recently and it has been possible to pay using card or cash. 

If you don’t make people feel welcome, they won’t return and St Helens has never needed footfall as much as it does today. 

Ruth Tunstall, Rainford