MANNED payment kiosks could be set up to improve services at Oxford's Westgate car park.

Payment machines at the multi-storey car park in St Ebbe's keep breaking down and city council officers have highlighted the problem.

Liberal Democrat Cllr John Goddard, a member of the city council's executive board, is the portfolio holder for planning, transport, and crime reduction, which includes responsibility for car parks.

He said: "Councillors at the executive board meeting agreed they should try to maintain a system of pay on exit, because it is more shopper-friendly.

"Ways of maintaining the current system will now be explored. This could include employing staff to man payment kiosks, which would help to reduce queues at busy times." Some staff are already on site to provide help for shoppers who experience difficulties with faulty machines.

As part of plans to double the size of the Westgate shopping centre, subject to a public inquiry next month, the multi-storey car park would be demolished and and replaced with an underground car park.

Mr Goddard said council officers were now in discussion with Westgate developers Capital Shopping Centres about payment methods.

In Thursday's Oxford Mail, it was incorrectly reported that councillors agreed to change the current system, where shoppers pay on exit to get through a barrier, to a new system of pay-and-display.