The leader of Liverpool City Council has defended its second parking price hike in 12 months.
Motorists were previously hit with price hikes in April with a 30-minute parking ticket in the city centre rising to £2.30, from £2, while a full hour cost £4.40, from £4.
However the tariffs were pushed up again to £2.40 for a half-hour and £4.60 for an hour in all council-owned car parks and spaces in the heart of the city.
A two-hour stay nows cost £6.80, up from £6.50, while five hours or longer after 6pm is priced at £11, representing a 40p increase on the previous £10.60 price.
Charges for the outer zone of the city centre also went up with a 30-minute stay increased by 10p to £1.90 while 1-2 hour stays are £3.60 and £5.60 respectively.
But council leader Liam Robinson has attempted to justify the new charges signed off last month and rejected accusations the local authority is using it as a ‘cash cow’.
“We do acknowledge the charges did go up, they went up largely in line with inflation so for most places it was an additional 10p,” he told BBC Radio Merseyside.
“Now not trying to belittle the fact lots of people are finding it tougher with the cost of living, I think what we’ve tried to do is do things in quite a joined up fashion.
“We hadn’t reviewed city centre car parking for 30 years so when we did it last year it was always going to be quite a big change from what people had been used to.”