CAFÉ owners say shoppers are going straight home rather than taking some extra time in the city to have a coffee.

And staff are having to fork out 90 minutes’ pay a day to park while customers are continually asking for change, or using notes to make small purchases to get coins back to feed parking machines.

Shopkeepers have to give out the change but each time they go to the bank to get more, they have to pay for the privilege. “We feel robbed,” said Annie Bird, of Bird & Carter.

“We need to park all day so we can pop in and out to replenish our stocks. At Culver Street, we’ve had a 76 per cent increase.

“We’ve noticed the car parks have been much emptier in the last week or so.”

“We may have to give our staff a pay rise to compensate. They can’t use park and ride because they start too early.”

At the Shakydog juice bar, Andrew Haywardsaid:“Everyone’s saying ‘I can’t afford to park’.

“It’s more expensive than Bournemouth, which has a lot more going for it. Using park and ride adds an hour to the working day. And after a day on your feet, the last thing you want is to queue to get on a bus to get back to your car. Customers are buying something really cheap such as a bar of chocolate to get the change from you.

All the council’s car parks in the city require payment in coins before people leave their cars rather than after they have shopped, with no change given and no option to pay with notes.

People can pay using mobile phones but will be charge an extra 20p for doing so.

At Patisserie Valerie, manager Sorrel Taylor said: “I come in from Southampton and I park opposite Wiltshire College. The price has gone up from £1.80 a day to £7.40.

“I would love to use park and ride but we close at 7pm, which is too late for the last bus.”

Tom Mettyer of Neal’s Yard believes the charges are a tax on shoppers.

He said: “I have had people saying they are less likely to come into Salisbury on a regular basis.”

Mr Mettyer, a board member of City Centre Management, which has campaigned against the rises, added: “There’s a real worry that it will have a long-term effect on the city’s viability.

“The longer people stay, the more likely they are to make an extra, unplanned purchase. But now people are thinking about leaving, to pay as little as possible.

“Salisbury is dependent on bringing in people from a wide area, and there are other choices available to them.

“Most shoppers will not use park and ride. You can’t go back to your car and leave your stuff and go for a coffee.

If you could pay on exit at the central car park, and pay for part of an hour, I don’t think people would be so upset.”

Market traders’ chairman Barry Vincent said: “We’ve had so many customers coming up and saying they are having to pay for two hours when they only want to grab a few things from a couple of stalls. They won’t keep coming in at that price.”

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