‘Catch bus to beat city traffic chaos’
PLEAS TO PUBLIC AFTER VICTORIA CENTRE CAR PARK GROUND TO HALT
SHOPPERS are being urged to use public transport in a bid to avoid a repat of last weekend’s traffic chaos – which saw some motorists stuck for hours in the Victoria Centre’s car park.
The weekend is expected to be extremely busy again as shoppers get their last-minute gifts for Christmas – and the advice has been issued after traffic left drivers stranded last Saturday.
Shoppers who had parked in the underground car park at the shopping centre complained about the time it took to get out due to huge traffic volumes, with some forced to abandon their vehicles.
In a message to shoppers in the run-up to Christmas, a Nottingham City Council spokesman said: “While it’s great to see so many people returning to the city, the volume of traffic on parts of the road network last Saturday did cause some significant problems.
“We would encourage people to think about different ways of travelling in such as using our excellent public transport options including park and ride, and, if driving in, consider car parks south of the city centre including the new Broad Marsh car park which is fully open and had plenty of space available last Saturday.
“We will be using our electronic signs around the city to help motorists make informed choices about where best to head for parking, adjust traffic signal timing where necessary and provide frequent updates on our Travelwise Twitter feed.”
The Victoria Centre car park has 2,521 spaces, but shoppers described it as “chaotic” last weekend.
A Victoria Centre spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, some shoppers experienced delays when leaving our car park last Saturday.
“This was caused by congestion and queuing traffic on the surrounding roads in the city centre, making it difficult for vehicles to exit the car park.
“Although out of our control, we want to ensure our customers always have the best experience possible, and we requested a meeting with Nottingham City Council’s highways team and Nottinghamshire Police.
“We were reassured that a more proactive approach would be taken to help ease traffic this coming weekend.
“However, with just a week to go until Christmas, we know Saturday is likely to be busy. Our car park team will be on hand to assist shoppers and we would like to remind anyone coming to visit us that many of our
stores are open from 8am until 7pm this Saturday.”
And Inspector Paul Gummer, of the city centre neighbourhood policing team, said: “Nottingham has great park and ride facilities and excellent public transport links including buses, trams and trains.
“Amongst the many alternative car parks in the city centre is the new Broadmarsh Car Park, which motorists may not realise is now fully open.
“We are expecting the city centre to be extremely busy again this weekend in the run-up to Christmas.”