An apology has been issued to the ‘hundreds’ of motorists that were left trapped for hours in the Arndale car park on Saturday.
Visitors to Manchester said it took well in excess of three hours to leave level 12 of the Arndale car park late on Saturday (November 19) afternoon. They blamed poor ‘traffic light sequencing on the traffic lights and the flow of traffic [out of the car park]’, as the exits are governed by a give-way line — so, in effect, require other motorists to let them out during busy times.
Drivers said the afternoon ‘descended into chaos’, with one even calling the police to alert them of the situation. Footage sent to the MEN showed car horns being sounded in protest to the queue.
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Now, Pat Karney, the council’s city centre spokesperson, has apologised for the issue. He tweeted: “The city centre is super busy at the moment but we will see how we can improve this situation. Apologies everyone.”
On the day of the chaos, Manchester was welcoming in hordes of shoppers for the Christmas Markets, while the Rugby League World Cup finals were also being held at Old Trafford. One driver, coming in from Worsley to take his daughter to a birthday party, said: “I would never use that car park again, ever.
“It’s disgusting. They have a duty of care. It’s such a simple thing. They know there’s a problem, the MEN has reported on it a year ago. They can do something about it.“The advert it creates for people outside the city is appalling. It’s actually a great advert for the Trafford Centre. Nobody should be paying for that privilege, and they should be monitoring it and if there’s a problem — so what are the measures to help?”
Following the reports, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) says it does ‘tweak’ traffic light timings to help flows when the city centre gets busy, but has also appealed to visitors to make their way into town on public transport.
In response to the concerns, TfGM said it was ‘monitoring traffic movement’ over the weekend, and made ‘tweaks to assist with traffic flows where we could’. The organisation’s head of highways, Peter Boulton, also advised visitors to plan well ahead.
In a statement, he said: “Manchester is a top destination and with a number of events and the Christmas markets adding to the usual retail and leisure offering, the last couple of weekends have seen increased numbers of people travelling into the city centre by both car and public transport.
“We’d encourage anyone coming to Manchester to think about how they are going to get in, around and out of the city and to plan their journey in advance, avoiding the busiest times and routes where possible.”
A spokesperson for Manchester City Council, which owns and manages the car park, added: "The council is sympathetic to drivers who were caught in congestion while trying to leave the car park, however, the circumstances which caused delays were outside the council's control, therefore purchased tickets will still be valid.
"If a driver is issued with a PCN as a result of the congestion whilst exiting the car park they will be able to appeal the notice in-line with council policy."
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