PURSES will be bulging under the strain as commuters raid their piggy-banks to pay Salisbury’s new parking charges.

From Monday the cost of an all-day stay in Culver Street car park will rocket from £4.20 to £7.40.

All day parking at Central Car Park, College Street, Millstream and Central Car Park Approach will soar from £5.70 to £7.40.

And Wiltshire Council’s machines don’t give change.

That means anyone driving to work every day will have to stock up for the week with 35 £1 coins and ten 20p pieces.

The only way to avoid the nuisance of finding and carrying all that cash will be to pay by mobile phone – that’ll cost you an extra 20p a day – or to buy a season ticket where possible.

Wiltshire is also getting rid of the one-hour charging band, so now the minimum cost in any of its city centre car parks will be £2.20, covering up to two hours.

Five-hour parking at the Central Car Park Short Stay, Salt Lane, Brown Street, Lush House and the Maltings will no longer be an option. Three hours (at £4.20) will be the limit.

City Centre Management is very concerned that the charges will hit trade in the city.

A spokesman said: “We argued strongly against the new charges. It is clear that Salisbury, alone in Wiltshire, is being singled out.

“Our charges should not be more than our competitors such as Southampton, Winchester, Bournemouth and Basingstoke and ideally they should be lower.

“We will not give up the fight for fairer charges.”

But Wiltshire Council says bus companies are struggling to maintain services because their grants and subsidies have been cut, and it will use any extra income from parking to fund sustainable transport measures.

It wants to see more commuters using the park and ride, which it says will improve air quality by reducing traffic in the city centre.