Shoppers can park free of charge in some Wirral car parks in the run-up to Christmas, the council has said.

Authority-run car parks in Birkenhead, Heswall, West Kirby and Liscard will be free after 1500 GMT every Thursday up to Christmas.

Parking will also be free on Saturday mornings in Heswall and West Kirby on 4 December, Liscard on 11 December and Birkenhead on 18 December.

Wirral Council said it wanted to encourage people to shop locally.

Lesley Rennie, cabinet member for transport, said: "I want to make sure that we do all we can to help people who are feeling the pinch at this time of year and also to support our small traders.

"Many of our small shops are trying their best to compete with the growth in online shopping and out-of-town stores.

"This Christmas, we are making sure there has never been a better time to shop local."


Source: BBC

Mingebags, i heard on the radio, Liverpool are doing that every day.

do you think they will signpost this ?

if not then its a gamble if you dont pay, I can see loads of tickets being doshed out by the P/A for not displaying a parking ticket , then itll be up to the driver to bother arguing the case, so many wont bother and will jsut pay up creating tonnes of free revenue



or am i just over cynical

Ellesmere Port was free after 3 every day even so its still cheaper to park there than in Birkenhead.

That's if you can find a car park space, since the biggest in Birkenhead gets buried beneath the rubble

Wow,free car-parking after 1500hrs,we should all put our hands in the air and praise our employee's for allowing us this honour,shame they didn't follow Ellesmere Port's example because Birkenhead town centre is a chewing gum dump,it lost it's way years ago,it also lost lots of people going elsewhere because of high parking charges and the little tossers executing the "councils" orders,give me Widnes (free),Beeston (free if you go early),Ellesmere Port (50p 2hours,free after 1500hrs),Earlstown (free),apart from Beeston market which is a weird setup,the other markets and town centres are always very busy,now I wonder what they have in common to make people use them mmm.

I thinkit will just confuse people unless its clearly marked on the ticket machines, and any money lost in the "free parking" will be made up by fines issued to anyone who gets confused and doesnt pay when they should etc....

IMO if they are going to make it free, why not do it for ALL of december...

Is this a sorry attempt to gain custom from those going over to Liverpool/Cheshire Oaks/Trafford Centre? I'd happily pay the tunnel fare to go to Liverpool, or even petrol and 2000+ free parking places to Trafford Centre/Cheshire Oaks over the grim possibility of walking through Grange Precinct. I think they really need to do a bit more than this - two hours parking for 'free' (thanks) on a night that is late night shopping everywhere else is completely hopeless.

It does go to show that that they're in silent denial that parking charges on every single piece of road surrounding that area is driving people elsewhere. Arseholes.

Agree with all thats been said so far. Don't you think if they weren't in denial over their decision to put parking meters all around Birkenhead there would be free parking 24/7?

Shame on our council for not having the guts to say they were wrong on that one and remove them.

When we are surrounded by free parking options, they are sealing the fate of the ever-declining Birkenhead. Sad.

If they made it free it would stop the selfish people who park in ridiculous spots blocking my drive or the road. It makes me mad. The next person who doesn't engage their brain and blocks the exit to my close (or the entrance for emergency services) I am going to put my bullbar to good use

We should not have to pay at all, or at least not on a Sunday. That was always the way it was years ago.

The more fines you pay for inadvertently parking in the wrong place, the less dosh you have to spend in the shops. Drivers are just bloody cash cows and I can't wait to get shut of my motor when I've finished paying for it.
Come to think of it, why do they imagine Tesco, Sainsbury etc. have full car parks and full shops? It's not bloody rocket science is it?

WTF makes anyone think this is only a good idea at Christmas? Dumb money grabbing idiots.

Absolutely.Liscard have put their parking up to 70p for an hour.
The shops there would benefit so much more from a lower rate.
I park in Liverpool for around the same,but have so many more shops to choose from.
The charges will be the demise of Liscard.

Big Deal!!!