City centre car park listed among Britain’s most expensive

The GMB, the union for car park workers, looked at 320 car parks across the country. In its survey, York has the 21st most expensive car park in Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland.

The car park, in Stonebow, is run by the NCP and costs £1.80 for one hour, £3.20 for two hours and £4.50 for three hours.

But some council-run car parks are more expensive, with Castle car park costing £2 an hour for non-residents, the same as the council-run facilities in Piccadilly and Bootham Row.

The cheapest car park in York is in Bishopthorpe Road and charges just 20p an hour.

The most expensive in the North was the NCP short-stay at Leeds railway station, which charges £3.80 for one hour, £12 for two hours, £35 for three hours and £55 for four hours.

The most expensive nationally was in London, with Berners Street, in the City of Westminster, charging £7.30 for an hour.

Coun Ann Reid, executive member for city strategy, said the three council car parks in York which are more expensive than the NCP facilities are all close to the city centre.

Coun Reid said: "When we set our car parking charges, we don't have any reference to what private providers might be charging. The three car parks that are the most expensive are the ones closest to the city centre and we've tried to make it that you pay more for the convenience."

But she added 80 per cent of council car parks are cheaper than the most expensive private facility and have been unchanged in price since 2003.

Rob Kelsall, of the GMB, said car parks were being used to extract money out of motorists.

He said: "Private equity companies have targeted car parks as a cash cow.

"They have taken over £1 billion out of the industry in the last few years.

"While this money has been taken out, the numbers employed in each car park have been reduced as workers have been replaced by pay machines, automated barriers and CCTV cameras."

A spokesman for the NCP declined to comment.