Very true! Had not been to Workington for some time and didn't check time limit so assumed it was an hour, wrong! Got back to a parking ticket, haven't been since and won't be going back! Now do all my shopping in Cockermouth, plenty of places to park and great shops too!

It's ridiculous really - you go into town, your intention being to "get a few bargains". Surely that's what the whole high street is about - Iceland, Peacocks, Savers, Bon-Marche, Poundland, Home Bargains, the market stalls (and many more), these shops are all geared towards providing you with what you want (or need) to buy at the best possible price. You scrimp and save, you visit the shops and compare prices, you buy and save a quid or two here and there, and whatever you save is immediately nullified because you had to pay to park to shop in the town centre.
Or look at it the other way - you'll save a few quid shopping around which will subsidise your parking charges. Psshhhttt.

Well take it from me - the town centre ain't nothing special really - I'd rather shop at Derwent Howe where parking is free all day and every day and prices really are rock bottom.

To me its this simple either you want people to shop in the town centre or you dont, the people who built the multi storey provided the majority of the cash for the new town centre so it is reasonable for them to want people to park in the multi storey the problem is the cost of parking increased dramatically and the shopping experience hasnt barring one or two shops.

We do not go into Workington much these days as the limit on parking does not give you enough time to get out of the car let alone do any shopping.

We could use the car parks if we were millionaires but we are not as loads of people in West Cumbria aren't which means Workington will become a ghost town if the limits on parking stay the same.

couldnt agree more with alan and graeme.Trade where i work is affected by allerdales backward ideas of helping a struggling town.The same council who think its a great idea to put a taxi rank out side my house.Time for allerdale council to have a reshape.Time for fresh thinking and fresh faces.How can people be expected to do all there shopping in 30mins?The fact is it dosent matter what you suggest to allerdale they will always do the opposite.Unfortunately this is something people of workington have had to put up with for many years.Have too agree with alan an hour and a half is a decent idea or a minimum of an hour.Lets hope something is done before its too late but i wont hold my breath.

pedestrianisation and stupid parking restrictions ruined maryport town centre it still hasnt recovered workington is going the same way.

Why do we always make it difficult for people, lets think about how we can get people back in the town let them shop have lunch have a walk about enjoy themselves tell you what about FREE PARKING for all

Regarding the half hour parking... I think all that street should be No Parking, except lorries unloading at the shops, there are enough car parks round the town why not use those, no one can go shopping in town and do it all in half hour or an hour, it's just laziness and the shop keepers that are saying about quick shopping is nonsense, although on the other hand, some years ago I wrote in the letters column of this paper when the new multi story was being built and said that the prices would go up, and a local councillor wrote in and said that they would not, I think I was right, the prices in the multi story car park are extortionate... As are the council run ones, I also believe that free parking on Sundays should be brought in to bring more people into the town, but that will never happen... So to go back to the Half Hour Parking,.... Make Murray Road 1 long Taxi Rank and pedestrianise it, make it nice with seats and trees for people to come and enjoy our great little town.

This 30 minute parking was a crazy idea & has done damage to the town centre.

You have to be able to compete with the shopping areas who have free parking. I just hope this time limit will be extended asap.

This "pop and shop" idea was just an excuse to get people to park on the Mulistorey car park to pay for it that is why the prices keep going up. The parking restrictions on the other car parks in the centre of town were also changed to encourage people onto the multistorey as well.