DRIVERS will now have to pay to park their cars across Test Valley after charges were scrapped for months.

Since Boxing Day 2020 [December 26], Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC) suspended parking fees in all of their car parks after health secretary Matt Hancock announced most of Hampshire would be plunged into Tier 4.

The local authority continued to freeze parking charges from January 5, when England was thrown into its third lockdown, to help battle the growing number of coronavirus cases.

Parking fees resumed yesterday [April 12] at 8.30am at the same time non-essential shops and pubs reopen to customers, as part of step two of Boris Johnson's roadmap out of lockdown.

As reported, deputy leader of Test Valley Borough Council (TVBC), Cllr Nick Adams-King, revealed parking fees would return on April 12.

He wrote in a Facebook post: "Charging is due to resume on April 12th when the next review of lockdown restrictions is due and non-essential shops are scheduled to re-open.

"If for any reason the restrictions stay in place then we will not re-introduce charging until non-essential shops are allowed to re-open."

He added prices would not increase, so drivers can still pay "£1 for up to two hours in the town centre car parks".

Parking will remain free from 4pm to 8.30am and on Sundays and bank holidays.

The public must continue to pay in "Aldi's car park", he added.

However, the leader stressed this time TVBC would not give drivers an extra week of free parking from April 12, which previously helped the public adjust to the new rules.

This comes after some angry divers slammed the local authority for scrapping parking fees in Romsey, claiming it was “a nightmare” after charges were ditched to help people during the first and second lockdown.

Residents vented their anger on the Advertiser's Facebook page over the scrapped charges, with some believing it took them 30 minutes to find a space.