COMMUTERS will be expected to fork out more to park at a railway station when the price rises by almost ten per cent for the THIRD year running.

Colchester MP Will Quince accused Greater Anglia of treating commuters like “cash cows” as the franchise revealed the 9 per cent price hike.

In 2016, commuters could pay £1,160 for 12 months of parking at Colchester North Station.

The car park is owned and run by NCP, but the tariffs are set by Greater Anglia.

From January 2, season ticket holders will be expected to fork out £1,716 for the privilege.

This is a 9 per cent increase on the £1,575 price set for this year.

Greater Anglia previously justified the rise by pointing to a plan to spend £60 million on improving stations in East Anglia, including Colchester.

But Mr Quince said the “proof was in the pudding” when it comes to evidence of return on commuters’ investment.

“I think it is pretty unjustifiable,” he said.

“In the past they have talked about it rising to help with investing in car parks and infrastructure, but we haven’t seen much evidence of that in Colchester other than ANPR cameras.

“These cameras only help the people who run the car park.

“My advice to commuters is to shop around and try other means of getting to the station.

“Use the Park and Ride, which now is open for longer hours.

“My advice to Greater Anglia is to stop treating commuters like cash cows by putting prices up without us seeing the benefits.”

A Greater Anglia spokesman said: “We have made some adjustments to parking prices at some of our stations. Some prices have been frozen or gone down.

“All money raised from car park charges is used for improving and maintaining our car parks.

“During this franchise, we are investing over £25 million on car parks at our stations, creating an extra 1,782 spaces, fitting LED lights, installing Automatic Number Plate Recognition, improving CCTV and security and re-surfacing.”

“This high level of investment on improvements exceeds our projected extra revenue generated by increased prices.”