Union highlights 'scandal' of rail parking costs at up to £7 an hour

Published on Monday 18 May 2009 22:01

SCOTTISH passengers are being "ripped off" over the price of parking at stations, facing charges of up to £35 for five hours.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association said rail users are paying more than 1 billion a year at station car parks, describing it as a "scandal".

A union survey of more than 1,000 station car parks in England and Scotland showed charges including 35 for five hours at Glasgow Central, while in England, passengers were paying 55 for four hours in Birmingham and Manchester, 135 for eight hours' parking at the same stations, 1,404 for an annual car park ticket at York station and 1,790 for an annual car park ticket in Guildford, Surrey.

More than 1 million a year is being made from the car park at Birmingham International, which is being trebled in size.

The TSSA said Network Rail, which controls the country's 18 largest stations and charges the most, is making more than 15 million a year from passengers.

Releasing the survey at the union's annual conference in Torquay yesterday, general secretary Gerry Doherty said: "This is a real scandal and we are today calling on Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon to do something about it.

"Passengers, like visitors to hospitals, 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."

The union leader called on the government to curb car parking charges by including them in the fares formula, which prevents rail companies from increasing regulated fares by more than 1 per cent above inflation every year.

Customers at Glasgow Central car park said yesterday that the charges were high but had positive points.

Barry Livingstone, a delivery driver, said: "It is very expensive if you stay here for longer than 20 minutes, but it's perfect for me because it means I can almost always get a parking place in the centre of the town, and make my delivery for minimum cost."

William Wilson agreed: "At 35 upwards you would never spend a whole day here. "

A Network Rail spokesman said: "They are absolutely misrepresenting what we charge for short-stay car parks."

The spokesman added that Network Rail do not have control of the pricing of the vast majority of station car parks.

"The dozen or so we do have responsibility for are at the heart of major cities where public transport alternatives are in abundance.

All that money is invested in the railway and we've got every right to tap into revenue streams. We make no apologies for that."