MARKET traders say Oxford City Council has added insult to injury by raising car parking charges – and then asking traders to drop prices to lure back shoppers.

Covered Market stall holders said a council boss suggested they offer discounts to shoppers who park at the Westgate Centre – after ticket prices were raised by 15 per cent last year.

Yet they said the price increase has hit business, in a move that has also reduced council car park takings by £700,000 this year.

The council declined to comment on the claims, which traders said were made at a meeting with a city council boss.

John Partington, director of the Covered Market Traders’ Association, said: “Frankly, they got themselves in it, and want us to bail them out.

“If we dropped our prices, we would be stuffed twice while they are happily putting up parking charges.”

Mr Partington, of Chocology, said: “The council have got themselves into a right old mess.

“Every year they have nudged the price up, so now it is mortgageable to park there.

“Now they turn to traders and ask us to help them get out of this hole.”

He said the suggestion was made by city centre manager Gordon Reid on September 16 – a fortnight after the council said use of its car parks, including the Westgate, was down 11 per cent. Mr Partington said: “I think it is very clear they are not thinking in joined-up writing, and it is driving traders spare.”

Last year, city centre car parking charges increased 15 per cent, followed by an extra 10p on motorists staying under an hour in January.

Westgate charges range from from £2.40 for up to an hour and £21.90 for more than eight hours.

Association chairman Chris Farren, of The Cake Shop, said: “At the moment in the market, the council’s suggestion has gone down like a lead balloon.

“It angered traders more than anything else, which is understandable “They put up the car parking by 15 per cent, then encourage us to drop ours. The council put up the parking fees, so why should we start subsidising them?”

Mr Farren said Mr Reid had also suggested shopkeepers offer a fixed discount to all Oxford shoppers who buy a mooted city centre loyalty card. The council declined to comment on this.

The council has said it is looking at dropping prices and offering special discounts to boost parking revenues.