New EasyJet style parking charges (07/09/2007)

Motorists may soon be able to park for as little as £3.99 per day or 50p per hour as 'easyJet' style parking hits the streets of Central London.

The scheme, which is the first of its type in the world, works on the same principle as low cost flying whereby tickets are sold at increasing prices depending on the number of available spaces. Unlike booking flights, the price to park would be advertised by a large digital sign at the entrance of the car park.

Westminster City Council have announced that they could be able to charge motorists as little as £3.99 for a whole day parking because the council hopes it will have a 30% more cars parked. The average cost of parking a car for a whole day in a car park is around £20. The cost of parking on street in the West End is £4 per hour.

Councillor Danny Chalkley, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Transportation at Westminster Council said:

"We know that many drivers in London are put off by expensive parking charges. This new way of charging will allow us to reduce prices by encouraging more people to park in our car parks.

"This could be as low as £3.99 for the first number of motorists to park for a whole day.

"We have seen the huge success of easyJet amongst others and now hope to bring in low cost parking."

Before considering this scheme, the council has been speaking to industry for advice. Toby Nicol, Director of Corporate Communications from easyJet said:

"This is an exciting idea by Westminster Council and we were more than happy to offer advice to them about low cost pricing.

"We hope that motorists will be as happy with low cost parking as we have been with low cost flying."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Westminster are considering whether to trial this method of pricing in one of their car parks such as Knightsbridge in the early part of 2008.

If the three month pilot scheme was successful, this charging system could be rolled out across the rest of Westminster before the end of 2008.

A decision whether to go ahead with this proposal is likely to made in the Autumn.

There has been a 12% drop in cars parking in Westminster car parks since the Western expansion of the Congestion Zone.