THE Britford park-and-ride is being opened on Tuesday, May 31.

The Downton Road site is the third in Salisbury, and the Joint Transportation Team hopes that people living to the south and south-west of the city will choose to park and ride as a cheaper alternative to city centre car parks.

For the first week, the service will cost £1.50, and this will rise to £2.20 on June 6, coinciding with an increase in city centre parking charges to £5 a day.

Britford park-and-ride has more than 400 spaces, and buses leave every ten to 15 minutes from 7am to 7.30pm.

Construction was funded by the department of transport, the district council is responsible for the running of the site and buses are provided by Wilts & Dorset.

The vice-chairman of the joint transportation committee Councillor Dennis Brown said: "With the opening of the Britford park-and-ride, we now have more than 1,200 long-stay, out-of-town car parking spaces for people visiting or working in the city.

"The park-and-ride sites at the Beehive, Wilton and now Britford offer a convenient and cost-effective way to travel into the city.

"By encouraging more people to use these park-and-ride services, we shall be helping to reduce the amount of traffic in the city centre, which will make a better environment for everyone.

"I really hope that people who need to come into Salisbury, particularly commuters and those wishing to spend most of the day in the city, will try all our park-and-ride sites and see for themselves just how good they are."