NCP Leeds Markets: Families abandon vehicles and children left 'crying' during four-hour car park queue misery
“Distressed” families say they were trapped queuing for nearly four hours when leaving an eight-storey car park in Leeds city centre, as people abandoned vehicles and children were left crying.
Motorists told the Yorkshire Evening Post they became stuck in standstill queues while trying to exit the NCP Leeds Markets Car Park, off York Street, on Saturday (March 29).
National Car Parks (NCP), the company that runs the car park, apologised but said the significant delays - which motorists claim happen every weekend - were “outside of our control”.
The latest four-hour traffic standstill happened as families were trying to leave the car park after visiting Leeds Playhouse to watch the popular Animal Farm theatre show.
Speaking to the YEP, one motorist said the incident caused “considerable distress” as young children were left “crying” and some families were forced to abandon their vehicles and arrange alternative transport during the chaos.
“When we left the show [Animal Farm] it took us hours to get out of the Markets Car Park. Apparently this is a known issue and happens most Saturdays,” he said.
“The staff were aware of the issue and just put it down to traffic and that it happens every Saturday.
“These were people with young children crying, people trying to get home who ended up leaving their cars there and getting a bus home.
“People were leaving the Car Park to get food and drink then coming back to find their car was still in the same place.”
Drivers exit the eight-storey car park onto York Street, which is one-way, towards the notoriously busy A61 and Eastgate roundabout.
NCP said it had previously held discussions with the Leeds City Council-run highways team over the issue. The company said the problem was not one the car park company they are “able to resolve”, as the delays stem from the “sheer volume” of external Leeds city centre traffic.
An NCP spokesperson said: “We do apologise to all customers who were affected with the delays to exit our car park on Saturday evening. This is not a problem that NCP is able to resolve as the delay stems from the sheer volume of city centre traffic that is using these roads, and the road traffic lights that control the length of time cars are waiting for the lights to change to green.
“We have been in touch with the Highways and whilst they have tried to adjust the timing of the traffic lights they feel they can’t alter the light changes any quicker. We would welcome any help from the council on this matter as we are experiencing the same levels of frustration as our customers are.
“We have tried to explain that this is outside of our control, we have staff on site and all our equipment is working, but we simply cannot do anything to help exit cars from an 8 storey car park any quicker than the volume of traffic on the surrounding roads will allow them.”
The council has said that a review of signal operations in the area was underway, in a bid to resolve the issue.
A spokesperson told the YEP: “Traffic signals were operating normally on Saturday but a review of signal operation in the area will be undertaken to identify ways that future disruption could be minimised without negatively impacting on bus reliability.”