FRUSTRATED employees at Milton Park are petitioning to stop a new car parking charge which could see them fork out almost £1,000 every year.

Companies on the site near Didcot were sent an email informing them that the business park's owners were introducing a £4 daily charge for its overflow car park.

Infuriated by the possibility he could be forced to spend £960 a year to park his car, senior IT consultant Scott Rundle started a petition.

The 33-year-old, who lives in Wantage, said: "It is just ludicrous – people who work here cannot afford to take almost a £1,000 salary cut just so they can park their car.

"Although the company will have eight 'free' spaces allocated to us, that means 26 of us will have to use the overflow car parking.

"We have people who travel all the way from Newbury and Thatcham - they're going to have to get up even earlier to make sure they secure one of the free spaces.

"There are also lots of part-time employees or people who drop their children off before work – they are going to be punished by this charge as they will have to go into the overflow car park."

Last week 8,500 employees were informed the new charge would take effect on September 1.

Sarah Beck, an accounts assistant for Riverbank IT, said she would have to look at getting another job if the charges were enforced.

The mother-of-three, who lives in Abingdon, said: "I have to do the school run before and after work, so to have to pay £4 for the 'privilege' of parking at work for five-and-a-half-hours would just not be cost effective for me.

"If this actually comes into force I will seriously have to consider whether I can continue working on the park as my family cannot afford to lose over £800 a year in parking charges."

Ms Beck said using public transport to get to work and drop her children at school would involve several bus journeys and take too long.

More than 900 people signed Mr Rundle's petition in less than a week.

A spokesman for MEPC said a further consultation will be held and no changes to the current arrangements will be made yet.

He added: "There are more than 5,000 car parking spaces at Milton Park and occupiers are allocated a number of free spaces in their leases bases.

"We are finding that demand from staff and visitors often exceeds this number and therefore we want to work with our occupiers to manage demand and also promote other, greener travel options.

"As part of this process we are encouraging occupiers to promote car sharing, the use of public transport, cycling and a proposal charge for overflow car spaces was considered as part of this strategy."

The company said last year it held a travel options survey and feedback "indicated a willingness to pay for overflow parking rather than utilise public transport."

For more information visit: change.org and search for Milton Park