ST HELIER is special and offers a lot to shoppers, according to an expert in town centre management – but the Island also needs to change its car parking system to make it easier to park in town.

Martin Blackwell, chief executive of the Association of Town Centre Management, said that whereas parking in Jersey was not expensive, it was ‘flipping difficult to understand’.

‘If I had hired a car, I would probably have got fined. People don’t understand it,’ he said.

He urged those responsible for parking to adopt new technologies and end the scratchcard system.

During a speech to the Jersey Chamber of Commerce last week Mr Blackwell referred to the results of a survey, yet to be published, of 700 Islanders who were asked about their experiences of St Helier.

And he said that the Island’s scratchcard parking system had raised the ire of many of the respondents.