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Councils to charge for Sunday parking

String of councils are planning to introduce the controversial charges over the next few months

Parking tickets

By Jon Morgan

04th August 2011

If you thought that motorists’ wallets couldn’t be hit any harder, you were wrong. A group of local authorities are set to make drivers pay to park on Sundays.

Westminster City Council voted last week to introduce the controversial charges. Manchester and Oxford City Councils are all planning to introduce them in the near future, and according to the Local Government Association, other authorities are likely to follow suit.  

A spokeswoman said: “Sunday parking charges are something that’s happening more and more.” 

Westminster covers some of the most popular destinations in London, including Soho, Mayfair, Oxford Street and Regent Street. In the next few months, the council will introduce charges of between £2.20 and £4.40 for drivers parking on a Sunday between the hours of 1pm and 6pm.

It has also extended the “hours of control” until midnight on Saturdays and weekdays. 

Westminster councillor Lee Rowley said: “These new policies will mean our residents will be able to park near their homes, businesses can continue to deliver goods, and visitors can have a realistic expectation that they will be able to park when coming into the city.”

Auto Express wants to know what you think. Are Sunday charges a logical way of protecting residents’ parking spaces? Or just another way for local authorities to target motorists? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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8 Comments

Article Correction

Liverpool already has had Sunday council parking charges. Please check with them before writing an article. You obviously copied this from the BBC news who also posted incorrect information. The only thing Liverpool Council are considering is raising the evening time from 6pm to 8pm. But we've had Sunday charges for a while now.

By liverlee on 4 August, 2011, 6:32pm

john

Anything but anything to get money out of the motorist!!

Nothing changes.

By natsatsa1 on 4 August, 2011, 9:27pm

Hardly news...

We've had to pay to park all 24 hours including Sundays and bank holidays up here in King's Lynn (Norfolk) now for some time... As much as I sympathise with the residents of London etc, welcome to the real world that the rest of us live in! I can't imagine these charges will put much of a dent in the wallets of the people likely to be parking in Mayfair or Oxford Street anyway...

By alex34197 on 5 August, 2011, 12:14pm

City Centres....Best Avoided?

I make a point of not going near city centres and using car parks at out-of-town shopping centres to avoid paying for parking ever. In most cases, these centres that offer free parking have the same shops as city centres, so you get the same choice. Obviously disabled drivers have to park close to shops, but some other, fitter drivers seem determined to park as close to city centre shops as possible when they would be able to walk a short distance with ease. As for Sunday parking, well, councils provide car parks 7 days a week, so why not cash in? If motorists are unhappy, just don't use them.

By n50pap on 5 August, 2011, 3:47pm

So what?

Where I loves there has been a nominal £1.50 charge to park all day anyway.

I suppose we should expect more of this as councils struggle to cover their budget cutbacks but, on the surface, it looks like the motorist is being targetted again.

I suppose some shops could offer to pay your first hour or two if you spend a certain amount of money with them, as some already do Monday to Saturday.

By dastardly01 on 6 August, 2011, 3:49pm

So what - corrected

That should say "Where I live"!!

By dastardly01 on 6 August, 2011, 3:49pm

Westminster Thieves

Westminster has already used motorbike parking fees to plug their budget although technically against the law to use it this way, now its the motorists turn, and they have promoted pay to park under very dubious contract setting. Its time motorists stood up and protested, bike riders have and motorists complained about the congestion caused, now they know why!

By philthunder on 9 August, 2011, 12:46pm

Parking charges

Any parking charges will just drive more people out of town to do their shopping. it is a self defeating idea. they put up the parking charges and more town shops close. I live in a small town and and the town centre shops are a local shops. Rather than pay we have only a ten minute drive to a large Tesco's. this is cheaper than paying to park in town. Sunday is still free and after 6.O clock in the evening.

By Dieselman on 9 August, 2011, 4:23pm

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