Somerset Council introduced new parking charges across the county back in August.

At the time they said there would be an overall 10 per cent rise in parking charges across Somerset – though this will vary from car park to car park, in some the increase will be very slightly above or below 10 per cent, as the new fee will be rounded up to the nearest 10p.

Parking season tickets are also being increased by a similar percentage in the measures agreed at the Council's Annual Budget Meeting.

One commented on the main Frome site: "What a thoroughly depressing lack of imagination on the part of Somerset councillors and officials when downtown businesses are struggling and need all the encouragement possible to attract customers. The Council should first have published a figure of how much they wished to raise, to allow suggestions from the public and businesses for either council economies or the opportunity for shops to organise a refund scheme such as the one operating at Iceland."

Another said the one price for Sunday was putting them off shopping in Frome. That has gone up from £2 a day to £2,20.