Stars join battle against parking charges planned for the West End

Actors are backing a campaign against parking charges in the West End, saying it would be "another nail in the coffin" for theatres.

Westminster council is planning to scrap free evening parking Monday to Saturday and on Sunday afternoons and start charging £4.80 an hour.

Tom Conti, Linda Bellingham and Only Fool and Horses actor Roger Lloyd Pack are among those opposing the move. Nearly 7,800 people have signed a petition calling on the council to abandon its plans, which will be handed to the council next Wednesday.

Jenny Seagrove said: "Increased parking rates will make it impossible financially for some of my colleagues to accept jobs in London."

Lloyd Pack added: "This feels like an iniquitous and punitive strategy to extract money from an already beleaguered profession, also from a public who pay high prices to go to a show."

Critics fear young families with children will be particularly affected.

Lee Rowley of Westminster council said: "The changes affect only around a quarter of Westminster. If anyone wants to continue to park free they will still be able to do so just a stone's throw from Oxford Circus. The idea that we are shutting down the entire centre of London to cars is bonkers."