Parking charges and key worker parking

For those who missed our announcement last week, we have a new all day parking rate of £3.50 in three city centre car parks – Holmans Meadow (behind the Odeon cinema), Castle Street multi-storey and Station Road West multi-storey.

This is to provide a parking alternative for shop workers and others who spend long periods of time in the city and who cannot use park and ride while it is closed. The charge of £3.50 for the whole day is the same as park and ride would have cost were it in operation.

We have also reopened the park and ride car parks (without a bus service) at the cost of 50p for the whole day. This allows people to walk and cycle into the city or walk to work at a number of retail parks. They could also catch ordinary, timetabled Stagecoach buses if they wish and then pay the relevant fare on board.

And we continue to retain free car parking for NHS and social care workers, as well as NHS volunteers, at our non-ANPR car parks and in on-street bays. Please ensure you clearly display on your dashboard a letter from your employer or other form of identification that shows you meet this criteria.

We were very pleased to be able to help all key workers park for free during the lockdown. But from this Monday coming (22 June), we will be strictly applying the government guidance regarding who is eligible for free key worker parking and limiting it to those referred to immediately above.

We have deliberately taken a very low key approach to parking enforcement in our car parks during the lockdown, but now that the city centre has begun to reopen, normal enforcement work is resuming to ensure fair use of our car parks for all.

If you are a non-NHS/social care key worker and have used our car parks for free over the last few months, please now begin using the three car parks mentioned in the first paragraph and ensure you pay for your parking to avoid a fine.

Published: 18 June 2020