A cashless system to pay for parking spaces is beginning a six-month trial in the Barnet borough next week.

Drivers will be able to pay using their mobile phone under two separate schemes being piloted at the same time.

The initiative promises to make life easier for drivers, but has prompted fears it could leave motorists vulnerable to fraud.

The RingGo cashless system will be rolled out in eight of the borough’s off-street car parks, with the Verrus phone method being used in five other locations starting on Monday.

Barnet Council will be the first authority in the UK to test the two schemes simultaneously, with a view to rolling out one of them across the borough.

A council spokesman said the pilot would offer a “safer, easier and more flexible” payment method for motorists.

He claimed the schemes reduced the risk of theft at ticket machines and made drivers less of a target for robbers.

Motorists contact a call centre or automated system, registering the car for a particular location and time period, and then pay by credit or debt card.

The council spokesman added: “Civil enforcement officers, who patrol the car parks, will be equipped with equipment to monitor which cars have purchased cashless parking and when their time will run out, in the same way they currently monitor the times on ‘pay and display’ tickets.”

However, previous pilots in other London boroughs — including Westminster — sparked fears about fraudsters tapping into systems.

Concerns were also raised about accessibility of the technology for elderly or disabled people.

A spokesman for Age Concern Barnet said: “The facility is important and the benefits can be helpful, but a lot of elderly people do not have mobiles to use.”

Harry Clarke, commercial director of RingGo, said its security checks met the highest Govern-ment requirements and claimed: “We don’t do text parking and a lot of the security concerns about cash-free parking have centred around text services.”

Robin Bevan, chief executive of Verrus said: “Our system is encrypted and is as secure as any card transaction. If anybody finds it difficult to use the system in Barnet, they can continue to use other methods, but our research shows people find it easy to use and there are a lot of benefits for disabled people, who don’t have to leave their car to buy a ticket for example.”

Councillor Andrew Harper, cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “Many people simply don’t want to carry change for their parking and would rather pay by credit or debit card.

“Cashless parking has been a success when used elsewhere and I have no doubt it will be taken up by many people parking in Barnet over the coming months.”

The council said there were no plans to reduce or remove existing parking meters.