MOTORISTS driving into a west Suffolk town were left reeling yesterday after workers forgot to unlock a major multi-storey car park.Usually, the Parkway multi-storey in Bury St Edmunds is opened at 6.

MOTORISTS driving into a west Suffolk town were left reeling yesterday after workers forgot to unlock a major multi-storey car park.

Usually, the Parkway multi-storey in Bury St Edmunds is opened at 6.30am each morning by one of St Edmundsbury Borough Council's parking officers.

But that officer is currently away on holiday so contractors working for the council have been unlocking the entrance and exits to the 600-space car park.

Yesterday the council confirmed its contractors had failed to open the car park, which has scooped the national Park Mark accolade three years running, at the usual time, meaning drivers had to travel down the exit ramp to get inside because the entrance was locked.

The situation arose just a day after parking charges were increased across the town.

A spokeswoman for the council said: “Contractors have been opening the car park while the council employee who normally does so has been on holiday, but failed to do so yesterday morning.

“The car park was opened fully by a duty staff member at 8am.”

Officially the car park opens at 7am which means the council was an hour late.

One of those affected, who did not wish to be named, said: “It was a bit of an inconvenience and nobody really knew what was going on. It is quite a busy time of morning for something like that to happen.”

Yesterday's problem arose just weeks after the council introduced an inflation-busting charge hike at its car parks. Previously, a day's parking in the multi-storey cost £1.20 for up to fours and £1.40 for more than four hours during on weekdays. But, as of Monday, those costs were increased to £1.30 for up to four hours or £1.80 for more than four hours.

It also happened on the same day as contractors sealed off a section of King's Road in Bury. The closure, which comes after the street was made one way, will be closed to cars for the next 12 weeks.

The section of road, between St Andrew's Street South and Prospect Row, will be closed while work is carried out to widen pavements and resurface the carriageway. Once reopened, King's Road will become a permanent one way street with a cycle lane contra flow.