TRADERS today pleaded with council bosses to abandon a plan to increase car parking charges in Blackburn town centre, claiming it would drive customers to out of town retail sites.

But Blackburn with Darwen Council today insisted that the rises overall were only the same as inflation, even though some were as high as 25 per cent.

Two hours on Blackburn's long-stay car parks will rise from 80p to £1, while a six-hour stay will cost an extra 50p, rising to £3.50.

Daytime charges on Blackburn's short-stay car parks rise from 60p to 70p for one hour; £1.20 to £1.30 for two hours and £1.80 to £2.00 for up to three hours.

Evening charges for up to five hours remain the same at £1.

Blackburn's rooftop market car park is also affected, with one hour going up from 50p to 60p, two hours from £1 to £1.20 and a new standard rate for over six hours of £10.

Parking on the market on Saturday for up for four hours rises from £1 to £1.50, although other charges remain unchanged.

Today, Ronnie O'Keeffe, president of Blackburn's Chamber of Trade, slammed the increase, saying: "This will discourage shoppers from coming into the town.

"We should be trying to attract more shoppers, not soak as much out of them as possible whenever they try and park.

"The council keeps talking about making Blackburn an 'experience' for visitors so they will spend the day here. But they won't do that if they have to pay high charges for parking on car parks which are a long way out of town.

"I think the result of this will be more people choosing to go and do their shopping at out of town retail sites, where they can park for free.

"Any rise is bad news for the town."

Last year, the council refused a request by the Chamber of Trade to make parking free for the Christmas period in a bid to tempt shoppers after months of roadworks.

However, traders reported a bumper Christmas after a high-profile marketing campaign, which included pop group Atomic Kitten, paid off.

Eileen Hargreaves, secretary of Market Traders Federation, said: "Parking is a very important issue to us and the traders will go berserk when they hear about the increases.

"We keep being told we have a bright future but we need the help of the local authority for the here and now."

Executive Member for Regeneration Coun Andy Kay said: "During the budget process, the decision was made to increase parking charges in line with inflation. It is at this time of year that the increases are applied. We were able to hold prices last year and this will be the first increase in two years."