COUNCILLORS have handed themselves free passes for a town centre car park-- just over a year after telling shoppers they had to pay for on-street parking.

Furious traders and shoppers today said the decision to give the 64 members of Blackburn with Darwen Council free passes was outrageous.

Council bosses insisted members would only be able to take advantage of the scheme if they visited the town hall during their trip into Blackburn.

But they refused to say how the scheme would be policed, prompting claims it was open to abuse.

Today, one councillor claimed he could go shopping, meet up with friends for a pint and park for free with his pass, providing he "popped in" to the town hall for five minutes.

If each councillor uses the perk for two hours, three times a week, the scheme will result in almost £13,000 a year in lost charges.

Council officers have to buy season-ticket passes to park in the same spaces.

Traders have complained that on-street pay-and-display parking charges introduced last year have driven customers away. The council has also begun rigorous enforcement of the parking rules.

Jeff Stone, co-owner of the Exchange Arcade, Fleming Square, said: "Blackburn is a motorist's nightmare and people are voting with their feet and going elsewhere. This scheme is sickening.

"Everyone else has to pay because of them -- so they should pay as well."

Ray Goldstone, president of Blackburn chamber of trade, said: "The season ticket parking the council officers have had has rankled with us for a long time, but free parking for councillors really sticks in the craw.

"Everyone should pay, and if everyone did pay then perhaps the parking charges would drop a bit.

"Better still, perhaps they should try coming in on public transport. That's what they are trying to get everyone to do."

Councillors will be given passes to the car park above Blackburn Shopping Centre, which normally costs 70p an hour and £1.30 for two, and which the authority part-owns.

A spokesman for the council said: "This was recommended by an Independent Remuneration Panel.

"It should be remembered that the council is the equivalent of a business with an annual turnover of well in excess of £300million."

Tory leader Colin Rigby said: "We as a party have pushed for people coming into Blackburn to get some time free at the start of their parking time.

"But the parking for councillors won't really be used much. Most of us come into the town hall in the evening, when parking is free anyway."