Hundreds of Shropshire Star readers have voted overwhelmingly against the introduction of controversial car parking charges in Telford town centre.

Ninety-four per cent of people who returned voting slips printed in last week's Star or voted online at Shropshirestar.com were against the charges. Of the 375 readers who responded, 351 voted against the charges and only 24 in favour.

Plans to turn all of the town's existing free car parks into long stay and short stay areas, with a sliding scale of charges, were confirmed on Saturday.

Short stay car parks closest to the centre will be free for the first half hour, rising to £6 for seven hours, while long-stay car parks on the outer rim of the town will have a maximum charge of £2.50.

The centre's owners, USS Limited, insisted they would make shopping a less stressful experience with drivers being able to find spaces "much more easily" once the new tariffs are introduced.

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