With tighter coronavirus restrictions approved by parliament today (November 4), the council is once again suspending charges on all town centre car parks to help frontline staff who still need to travel to work during this period and shoppers when they are out getting essential supplies.

The move, will mean people will not have to touch parking machines to get tickets, reducing the risk of contamination and spreading the virus.

The authority was already offering two hours free parking during the day, and free parking overnight.

That is now being extended but council bosses have reiterated that people should still only be leaving the house if absolutely necessary in line with government guidelines.

People with parking season tickets will see payments suspended for the period.

Councillor Karen Shakespeare, cabinet member for public realm, said:

"In these times of uncertainty, we want to make it as easy as possible for people travelling into our centres whether they are frontline workers or people shopping for essential supplies.

"We took this approach earlier in the year when we were in the height of lockdown and now is the right time to introduce it once again. It will reduce the risk of spreading the virus through people not having to touch the machines and get tickets.

"I would stress however that people only visit our centres and use the car parks if absolutely necessary, we are about to go into a period of time where once again people need to stay at home to stay safe and bring down the virus transmission rates.

"Charges will be suspended for the time being and we will continue to review this decision regularly."

All other parking conditions, including time limits on short stay car parks, will still apply during the period.