King-sized parking charges

That's been the reaction to car parking charges which theatregoers are being asked to pay this week to see The King and I at Worthing's Connaught Theatre.

The adjacent NCP car park in Union Place has just gone over to a full 24-hour pay-and-display parking system, which means that Connaught patrons are liable to fork out 3.10 to stay long enough to see the whole show.

But many of them have voted with their steering wheels and driven straight out of the car park after seeing what it would cost them, and headed for free parking space in the surrounding streets.

The borough council is so concerned about the situation that its top theatres executives held a special meeting yesterday morning to discuss the matter.

It is understood that the NCP management might be asked to reduce evening car parking charges for theatregoers, but the result of yesterday's meeting was not known by the time the Herald went to press and no-one from the council was available to comment.

But the curtain has already risen on new hopes of relief for cash-strapped theatre lovers.

Kevin Jarvis, NCP operations manager for Southern England, revealed exclusively to the Herald yesterday: "We didn't know there was a problem until someone told us there was.

"We are more than willing to work with the community and discuss some sort of reduced-rate parking voucher, obtainable from the Connaught, for people actually attending the theatre.

"On that particular site, it would be economic suicide for us to give cut-rate parking to all users without being sure that they are theatregoers."

Theatre patrons enjoyed a flat 1.10 rate when the car park operated on an attendant-based system.