Traders have warned that Workington town centre will be 'like a ghost town' if parking issues aren't resolved.

Alan Moore, owner of Intrim Fitness, on Upton Street, believes improving parking in Murray Road would encourage shoppers into the town.

He will meet Workington MP Sue Hayman on behalf of town centre traders on June 3 to ask her to push for the current 30-minute restriction to be eased to at least an hour.

He said: "I'm going to ask Sue Hayman why Workington is the only town in Allerdale with restricted half hour parking zones.

"I want her to make the car parking reasonable because it will end up like a ghost town.

"Another problem is that at any one time you can have 18 taxis on Murray Road.

"You could halve them and they'd still be sitting quiet so why not put them out into another street in close proximity to the town centre.

"Let's make more room for people to park and shop because I've never known Murray Road so dormant and it's time it was resurrected."

Graeme Cameron has run engraving business Sole It Lock It on Murray Road for 18 years.

He said the restriction had cost him up to 20 per cent of his trade.

"I can't understand why the parking in Keswick, Cockermouth and Maryport is an hour," he said.

"The council said it would cost them too much to change the signs over but I think an hour would make a big difference.

"Small businesses like unit shops, if they're not getting the customers they will close.

"If we're down 15 to 20 per cent in trade now, in five years time it could be down 30 or 40 per cent which you can't sustain.

"You can't run a town centre with shops popping up for six or 12 months and then closing."

Last week residents in Peter Street called for car parking disc zones to be made seven days a week across the town.

In the current zones, motorists have to display a disc between 8.30am and 6pm every day from Monday to Saturday.

Residents are unhappy motorists can leave their cars for several hours at a time on Sundays.

Alan believes easing restrictions in Murray Road would help address the problem.

He said: "While I can understand it from a resident's point of view, they pay rates for the property they're in, not the roads.

"People will come into town and shop but I'm sure they'll then go home and not just leave it there all day.

"How would they like it if people weren't parking there and the town centre was empty with no shoppers or anything?

"But by changing the half hour parking that would immediately help alleviate the issue in surrounding streets."