A major Welsh tourist attraction is introducing a new parking system for its visitors to help enforce its existing pay and display model more effectively.

Big Pit, which is also home to the National Coal Museum, already charges a flat rate of £5 per vehicle and came in for criticism after a Senedd report stated charging visitors for the the attraction’s signature underground tours was wrong.

Big Pit introduced a charge for the tours taken as a rite of passage on school trips and weekend adventures for families across Wales for the first time last year due to financial pressures. That now costs £8 per adult for an advance booking, guaranteeing visitors a spot on the tour, or £5 on the day for the next available slot.

Its latest move is to crack down on non-paying drivers in the car park the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The new automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system will mean the registration of each vehicle entering the car park will be scanned and held against a digital system.

When a vehicle leaves the car park, a camera will scan the number plate again to check whether the parking fee has been paid for that vehicle.

“Our parking system is changing,” said a spokesperson for Big Pit.

“This will be managed by First Parking. Soon you will be able to pay for parking via the RingGo app, as well as at machines in our car park.”

“Car parking tariffs will stay the same, and parking will remain free for blue badge holders.”

The flat rate fee is expected to cover any length of visit between the attraction’s opening times. Big Pit is open daily between 9.30am and 5pm and underground tours run between 10am and 3.30pm. Payments should be made on arrival. Motorbikes are also currently able to park for free.