ESSEX-based Total Car Parks is rolling out mobile technology designed to help motorists avoid hefty fines for over-staying the time they have paid for.

The Colchester company, which operates more than 40 car parks across the country, in towns including Colchester, Ipswich, Woodbridge and Braintree, has launched a mobile-friendly webpage.

Besides enabling motorists to book and pay for their space, it also has a facility for parkers to be send a reminder 10 minutes before their ticket is due to expire.

They are then given the opportunity to extend their parking time at the touch of a button, so helping them avoid a potential fine.

According to figures from the DVLA, parkers paid more than £93million in private car parking fines in 2011, compared with just £21m five years before.

Essy Eslamian, managing director of Total Car Parks, said:“We’ve always worked hard to ensure enforcement is an absolute last resort in all of our car parks.

“Being able to offer this method of booking, payment and reminder service enables us to ensure our customers are having a positive experience parking with us.

“Given recent parking fine figures, we felt it necessary to make it our priority to do everything we can to reduce the number of fines given to parkers.”

He added: “If parkers think they are not going to make it back to their car before their parking ticket expires, they can simply log in to their previous booking via their mobile phone and top up their ticket using their original payment method; their booking is updated within seconds.

“We also provide each parker with a unique ‘Quick Response’ code so they can quickly restore their parking history and amend their booking details.

“We’re delighted with the success of this technology and can confirm that 50% of Total Car Parks’ online bookings are already being made via our mobile website”.