A change in mobile phone signals is partly to blame for some Dorchester electronic parking information signs developing faults.

Some have not been able to show any information at all – while with others the faults are intermittent.

The problems have led to one councillor saying they might as well be switched off, if they are not working properly.

Dorchester town and Dorset councillor David Taylor said that to have the sign system not working as it should at the peak of the tourist season gives the county town a poor image.

"We might as well get rid of it," he commented.

Cllr Taylor is also unhappy about what he describes as "vague" information – signs simply reading that a particular car park is "open" rather than displaying how many spaces are available.

Dorset Council says it has been suffering problems with some of the electronic signs, most of which are on approach roads close to town centre locations.

Said a statement from the authority: "The issue is not affecting all signs, so those working correctly continue to display the number of spaces, 'busy' or 'open'.

"During August and September, we are upgrading the communications equipment for our electronic parking signs, and this will also rectify the issue in Dorchester.

"In the meantime, we apologise for the inconvenience this may cause visitors to the town."

At a meeting this week, town councillors were told that the problem is connected with the gradual switch off of 3G telephone masts in the area, to give more air space for 4G and 5G signals – resulting in the signs having the most problems generally being further away from a compatible phone mast.

The Dorset Council fix may result in some signs having the communications equipment within the structures upgraded in order to once again get a decent signal.

Problems with the electronic sign boards in Dorchester go back almost a decade with an admission in July 2014 from the then Dorset County Council that the system had then been problematic over the course of a year.

Town councillors at that time held a special meeting for Dorset County Council officers to explain what was going wrong.

It was then said that much of the inaccuracies were down to poor mobile phone signals, which the system relies on to work – with ground sensors also not being able to work out exactly how many vehicles had entered and left a car park, leading to inaccurate displays about the exact number of spaces available.

In some cases, the signs were then changed to read "open" or "spaces available", rather than give the exact number of vacant parking slots.

People had complained that they were driving to car parks where displays were indicating a set number of spaces available, only to find every spot already taken.

Today's system has the same problem, counting a motorcycle as a car, and if the system is re-set in the early hours, as some are, it is unable to work out how many cars have been parked up overnight, resulting in a false estimate of vacant spaces