WREXHAM Council collected more than £1,000 in fees from its town centre carpark’s, on a day they were supposed to be free.

The council operated several free car parking days throughout December, including on December 1, which was offered in support of Small Business Saturday, a national event encouraging people to shop at many of the town’s local businesses.

Despite parking being free at all council operated car parks after 10am, the signage announcing this was not clear enough according to local man Peter Ellson, who was about to make a payment at a machine at the St George’s Crescent site shortly after 1pm before he was alerted by another member of the public.

Mr Ellson said: “I asked how they knew this was so and they pointed out a tiny notice taped to the very bottom of the machine.

“After leaving the carpark, I noticed a number of people paying for parking.

“I decided to contact the council to ask why they didn’t display the free parking sign in a more prominent position and was told it was adequate.”

Mr Ellson said the positioning of the sign at such a low level, made it impossible to see and was therefore of no practical use and decided to make a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the council asking how much money was paid by people on the day.

In the FOI response, a copy of which has been seen by the Leader, Wrexham Council said there was no intention to mislead the public and confirmed the income taken in the town centre car parks that were subject to ‘free parking’ on that date was £1,433, and that signage was placed with the best intentions given that charges still applied until 10am that day.

The letter said: “Signage was placed early so that car park users could make an informed choice about their parking payment, therefore the payment slot could not be covered at that time as charges still applied.

“There was no budget to pay for additional signage therefore officers had to use what was available at no cost.”

Mr Ellson added: “They also confirmed that switching off the machines was simply not an operational option due to the resources involved and because that action would have most likely generated complaints from the public and caused anxiety for carpark users thinking the machines were not working.”

The FOI response also confirmed that no revenue was taken at the pay machines in Tŷ Pawb on December 1 and because there had been considerable publicity about the free parking, the council are satisfied that everything was done to alert the public about the offer.

Cllr David A Bithell, lead member for environment and transport, said: “All car parks were signed accordingly to note the conditions of free parking, and any revenue accrued from the machines will go into the cash limited budget as normal.”