Wellington parking meters go live today

Parking in the town will remain free, but the new meters will ensure there is a limit on how long can be spent in car parks.

Fines will be handed out to drivers who stay for longer than three hours in four of Wellington’s town car parks.

The move was announced back in March and, now installation of the meters are complete, they were going live today.

Parking in the town is currently free but with a time limit on the short stay car parks allowing motorists to leave their cars while they shop.

But Wellington Town Council says people are leaving cars there all day, the time limit it is difficult to enforce and there are limited options to create more spaces.

As a result the town council, the town’s market traders, the Wellington Chamber of Commerce and Telford & Wrekin Council have formed a partnership to come up with solutions to tackle the problem.

The new partnership hopes to make sure it can get more cars in and out of the spaces during the day, providing more capacity and increasing the vitality and viability of Wellington’s town centre businesses and market.

The machines have been placed at the car parks at Wellington Civic & Leisure Centre, Nailors Row, Walker Street and Victoria Road North.

The tickets will have a specific expiry time, making it easier to see how long a car has been parked in spot.

Any car that is still parked in a space after the expiry time of the ticket will receive a fine.

Ten machines have now been installed and the council also plans, at a later date,to revisit the provision of long stay parking in the centre of Wellington.