Drivers in tight spot over parking

Squeezing into the tiny spaces of a multi-storey car park is an effort at the best of times. However, motorists in Shrewsbury find it a harder task than anywhere else in the country.

A nationwide survey has revealed that spaces in Shrewsbury's Raven Meadows car park are so tight that only the skinniest shoppers will be able to get out of their vehicles with ease.

Check out our photo gallery below

The multi-storey car park, in the town centre, was voted the car park with the tightest spaces in the UK in the survey by Continental Tyres.

According to the Department for Transport guidelines, a standard car parking space should be at least 2.4 metres wide.

However, the crammed-in spaces in Raven Meadows are just two metres wide and, with the average car estimated to be about 1.8 metres, visitors are left squeezing through a tiny 20cm gap between cars.

Katrina Whittaker and her mother Julie, from Market Drayton, visited Shrewsbury yesterday but encountered problems before setting foot in the shopping centres.

Miss Whittaker had to let her mother out of the car before backing into the space - then had problems getting out herself.

She said: "It's ridiculous. You can't park properly because of the barriers. It's really awkward."

But Mark Walker, from Wem, said he had been to worse car parks. "I don't think it's that bad," he said. "I don't usually have problems but I don't have the biggest car in the world.

"If I was parking a Land Rover I'd probably park somewhere else out of sheer desperation, but I don't find it that bad."

A spokeswoman for the car park said the spaces complied with regulation measurements and she had not noticed many people having problems.

But drivers disagreed. Corrine Mitchell had come to Shrewsbury for the day with her husband and two young children, aged six weeks and two.

She said: "I couldn't get past the pillar and had to go around the car to get out."

Sophie Gwilliam, from Pontesbury, agreed, adding: "It's because of the pillars and people who park away from the bollards but closer to other cars."

"I would agree with that," said Georgina Carter, from Bayston Hill. "It's especially bad when people park over the lines."

Toby Shaw, from Pontesbury, said: "I've several times got stuck trying to get out."

But pensioner Jody Keele, from Ludlow, said she didn't have problems as her car is 20 years old. "It's smaller than modern cars so I can get in and out quite well," she said.

Other car parks likely to leave drivers in a tight spot include those at the GMex in Manchester, Chelmsford multi-storey in Essex and Heathrow Airport.

Fact file:

• Raven Meadows multi-storey car park has 850 parking spaces.

• It was built in 1968.

• There are 13 parking levels.

• Charges range from £1 for up to an hour to £7.50 for 24 hours.

• In 2007 it was awarded a Park Mark award for being a clean, light and safe place.

By Pam Griffin

As our photos show, there is little room for manoeuvre when you squeeze your car into one of the spaces at Raven Meadows. Pictures: Laura Dutfield.

Katrina Whittaker, from Market Drayton, in a tight spot.

The car park in Raven Meadows which is has been named in a countrywide survey as having the tightest spaces.

Mark Walker, from Wem.

The crammed-in spaces in Raven Meadows are just two metres wide.