The parking meter clocks up 50 years

It's not an anniversary drivers are expected to celebrate, but the parking meter is 50 years old today.

The first meter in Britain went up in Grosvenor Square, near the US Embassy in Westminster, on 10 June 1958. Then, parking for one hour cost six shillings, compared with £4 in the same location today.

Fines too were less punitive then. Those who overstayed or neglected to pay at all received a £2 penalty. Today, central London fines are £120, reduced to £60 for prompt payment.

A year ago, Westminster announced that parking meters were to disappear from central London altogether. The borough's 3,700 meters are being replaced by a pay-by-phone system and some pay and display machines.

Motorists register to set up an account and pay for parking by sending a mobile phone text message quoting their registration number and bay number. The cost is then debited from their account.

The parking meter was invented by American Carlton C Magee in Oklahoma in 1935.

The first models were clockwork and needed winding up with a large key. Self-winding meters were introduced in the Seventies but by 1990 they were seen as unreliable and were replaced with electronic ones. Many are now solar-powered.