Selena Elliot of Selena’s Obsession says people don’t come to town anymore because of the inconvenience.

“If you can go to Westfield for nothing, then why would people come in here and pay?”

Mrs Elliot says she does not expect free parking but thinks Newcastle City Council should implement parking incentives to encourage people to come into the city.

“Some of my customers drive around a couple of times and then leave because they can’t find a car park.

“That means I’ve lost a client. Maybe the council car park should have the first hour of parking for free.”

Another business owner, Rick Russo of Mack’s Fruit says parking times should be more flexible.

“Generally, I don’t think people mind paying, as long as they find it easy to get a car space.

“Some meters should have a shorter time frame so people don’t have to pay for two hours when they will be in a shop for five minutes.”

Newcastle lord mayor John Tate says parking times can be changed if businesses apply for it.

Businesses can write to council to ask for parking times to be changed and council staff will ‘assess the demand’ for it.

Mr Tate says the money received from parking meters goes towards the parking police wages and running costs and maintenance of parking stations.

Council said it received about $5 million from parking meters and parking stations in 2006/20007.