SHOPPERS in Nelson could receive an early council Christmas present if the authority agrees to a trial period of free parking in the town.

Members of the Nelson committee of Pendle Council promised to look into the option of having free parking in the Town Centre on Saturdays after a trader said it was becoming one of the quietest days for business.

Wilma Owen, of the Sun Rise cafe, Scotland Road, asked the committee to consider removing the requirement for disc parking for a trial period.

She said: "Saturday is one of the poorest trading days of the week and disc parking, when the town is quiet, is not necessary to keep parking spaces turning over.

"Many people forget to use discs for one reason or another and by the time they do remember they have got a ticket. They then say they won't come to Nelson shopping again and we lose more customers.

"Let's make Nelson a pleasant place to shop and do away with people having to remember the discs."

All the council-run car parks in the town centre use a disc system which allows people to leave their car for two and a half hours if a time is displayed on a disc in the car. Anyone who goes over the allowed time is fined £20, or £10 if they pay within a set period of time.

Mrs Owen asked for disc parking to be removed or for something else in the way of parking to be worked out to help to bring shoppers back.

Traders, particularly in the Scotland Road area, are fed up of the decline in customers and blame it partly on the number of empty shops in the town centre which they say are putting visitors off.

Parking problems have also previously been blamed for people heading out of town to bigger shopping centres.

Chairman of the Nelson Committee, Councillor Colin Waite, promised the proposal would be addressed by a council officer.