Rail users are being “ripped off” to the tune of over £1bn a year for parking at station car parks, according to a rail union.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA), which surveyed more than 1,000 station car parks in England and Scotland, found that parking a car can be more expensive than the journey itself, with charges reaching £20 an hour in some station car parks. The union accused Network Rail and train operators of further exploiting passengers, who have already been hit with fare increases three times this year.

General secretary Gerry Doherty said that “passengers are being ripped off simply because they are a captive audience. They are already paying the most expensive fares in Europe and now we find they are paying the highest car parking charges as well.”

Among the most expensive station car parks are Birmingham New Street, which charges £55 for 4 hours, then £20 per hour; Manchester Piccadilly, which charges £35 for 5 hours, then £20 per hour; Glasgow Central, which charges £35 for 5 hours, then £20 per hour; London Euston, which charges £16 for 8 hours and £22 all day; and London Paddington, which charges £14 for 8 hours and £22 all day.

The union called on the government to include car parking charges in the fares formula which prevents rail companies from increasing regulated fares by more than 1% above inflation every year.

However the rail industry was dismissive of the accusations, saying that the union was quoting selectively and the high charges were for short-term car parks.One way for passengers to avoid the exorbitant costs of station car parks is to obtain season ticket parking from companies such as 24 7 Parking, which offer secure parking at convenient locations across London and the UK. For press enquiries, please contact Peter Cooper on 020 7183 7247
Email: info@247parking.com

Web: www.247parking.com News provided by 24 7 Parking Ltd, a leading marketing services provider to the car parking industry in the UK, and a leading de facto marketplace for buyers and sellers, or lessees and lessors, of car parking spaces.

24 7 Parking carries out daily surveys of the national media to provide up-to-date news and commentary on UK transport.