DRIVERS of large vehicles are finding it difficult to manoeuvre in the new multi-storey car park at St Albans City Station. That was the claim of an angry motorist who vowed not to return to the £5.80 a day car park because of the problems she encountered

DRIVERS of large vehicles are finding it difficult to manoeuvre in the new multi-storey car park at St Albans City Station.

That was the claim of an angry motorist who vowed not to return to the £5.80 a day car park because of the problems she encountered getting around it in her Land Rover Discovery.

Sam Newby Ricci, a web editor who lives in Gustard Wood, said the car park which opened last week was the smallest she had ever driven around and because of its dimensions, it took her 10 to 15 minutes to get her four-wheel-drive vehicle down two levels.

Her vehicle is equipped with sensors which were giving non-stop warning bleeps and she folded the wing mirrors while trying to manoeuvre the Land Rover around the turns at the top and bottom of the ramps, she estimated in some places there was only one centimetre to spare on each side.

As a result she scraped the running board of her car and when she complained to staff at the car park off Victoria Street, they told her that there had been plenty of other complaints from drivers of large vehicles including people carriers.

While she was in the car park on Monday, she saw yellow paint being applied to the bollards, presumably to alert motorists to their proximity.

Sam said: "Nobody with a four-wheel drive is going to use that car park and I am certainly not going back again for £5.80 a day. It is not rocket science but it is just impossible to get round there in a four-wheel drive. What a waste of a car park."

The problems have come to light just a week after the car park opened and motorists drove in for the first time last Tuesday only to find that they faced increased charges of up to 45 per cent to park compared to the surface car park which had been there..

This week an FCC spokesperson denied that the car park was inaccessible to four-wheel drives and pointed out that it was built to meet all the strict standards required by Network Rail.

He added: "Any new car park will take a while to adjust to but we feel the gentle inclines and layout of the car park should be easy to conquer in a vehicle that is designed to tackle much harsher environments.