Telford & Wrekin Council was today named as one of the worst local authorities for increasing off-street car parking charges.

But council chiefs said the charges only applied to a small minority of council-run car parking spaces and 84 per cent of spaces were free. According to figures obtained by The Co-operative Motor Group, drivers have been stung with huge hikes in car parking charges over the last three years.

And motorists in Telford & Wrekin have been hit with a 30 per cent rise – the fifth highest, the figures reveal.

The top councils for off-street parking fee rises from 2008 to 2010 were Wigan – up 92 per cent; Preston with a 38.5 per cent rise; Scarborough – up 36.4 per cent; Newcastle-upon-Tyne – up 30 per cent and then Telford & Wrekin.

Nigel Newman, spokesman for Telford & Wrekin Council, said there were 32 council-run car parks in the borough but 84 per cent of the spaces were free.

He said there were charges at just seven car parks, five in Ironbridge and two in the Telford town centre, by the ice rink and behind Southwater.

He added that most of the car parks around the town centre were owned by other organisations.

“In Ironbridge the maximum charge is £1.40 a day and in the town centre it is £3.10 per day. The minimum in Ironbridge is 40p and in the town centre 70p.”

The figures, obtained under a freedom of information request, also revealed that Wolverhampton reduced off-street parking charges by 33.3 per cent in the 2008 to 2010 period, while Hull dropped them by 15.8 per cent.

Each year, local council income from parking services raises £1.35 billion.

The Co-operative Motor Group claims that, excluding penalty charge notice income, English local authorities raised an extra £184 million from parking charges in the years 2008 to 2010 compared with 2007.

The figure rises to £277 million if car parking penalty charge notice income is included.

Tony Guest , The Co-operative Motors general manager, said: “This is a double whammy on motorists because fuel prices have also gone sky high.”

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