THE winners and losers of the power failure which brought down the parking machines in Salisbury’s Central car park have been counting the cost.

The parking machines were out of action for 11 days from Thursday June, 7 to Sunday, June 17, causing jubilation for some businesses, while Wiltshire Council lost £2,300 a day after being forced to suspend all charges.

Deborah Fox from Fisherton Mill said that lunchtime trade in the gallery’s cafe was up 265 per cent on Saturday, June 9 when shoppers could park for free.

“It was incredible,” she said. “People who had come into town to do their chores could stay and have lunch because they weren’t constantly worrying about their parking tickets running out.

“Salisbury was buzzing and it was great for business.

“Things have been tough since the parking charges went up so much last year but this just goes to show what an impact they made.”

Business remained brisk while the parking machines were broken before the problem was finally fixed and charges came back into force on Monday.

Mrs Fox is calling for the council to reconsider its parking policy and do more to support businesses.

“If they changed the barriers to the ones where you pay on the way out it would help,” she said. “Then you might only have to pay a few pounds more if you stay longer in town rather than risking a £30 fine.

“I was praying they couldn’t fix them for ages.”

However, it is thought businesses near car parks where the machines were working, may have seen a decrease in trade as shoppers rushed to take advantage of the free parking in Central car park.

A council spokesman said: “During the period of power failure, there is no evidence to suggest there were additional vehicles parked in Salisbury as a result of the issue with the pay and display machines.

“Although businesses near the central car park may have seen a rise in footfall, this may have been due to displacement of cars from car parks where the machines were still working.”