Haskins in Shepton Mallet have announced that they are going to be offering three hours of free parking from now on.

During the lockdown, Haskins extended the free parking time from 90 minutes to three hours to allow for customers queuing outside Aldi.

Now, following discussions with their parking company, Haskins have decided to extend the three hours free on site parking for customers in future.

Haskins has been in discussions recently with a group of Mendip district councillors regarding free parking being offered in Shepton Mallet until August.

The company met with the councillors today (July 6) and had productive discussions. This announcement was relayed to the councillors as part of the dialogue within that meeting.

Facilities and maintenance manager for Haskins, Alice Archer, said: "Our primary reason for introducing parking measures on site was in reaction to the car park being almost full before Christmas 2019, many cars being left on site all day while owners went to work locally.

"Haskins' car park is private land and primarily for the use of our customers. We have been keeping our parking measures under constant review and have listened to feedback from customers and our tenants."

Haskins say the features of the new system include:

· Cameras remain on site

· No ticketing machines

· Three hours' customer free parking while on site

· Simplified system

· Cars that stay for more than three hours will be issued with a Parking Charge Notice

· This broadly aligns itself with other car parks within the locality

· This will allow customers enough time on site to enjoy their shopping experience