The cost of visitor parking permits in Brent for the day will rise by 50 per cent from next week.

Brent Council is upping the cost from £1 to £1.50 from November 1.

The price hike has been justified by Cllr Jim Moher, lead member for highways and transportation, who said the increase was in line with inflation.

However figures released last month by the Office for National Statistics showed inflation was at 2.7 per cent

Cllr Daniel Brown, Brent Liberal Democrat’s transport spokesman, slammed the price increase.

He said: “It’s typical of Labour to want to charge residents more for a worse service.

“The least the council can do is to freeze the price of parking permits while it sorts out the problems caused by Labour’s incompetence.”

Lib-Dems said the price hike should be scrapped in recognition of the “poor service” residents have received since the council introduced its online system for obtaining parking permits.

The system provoked a flood of complaints from residents, including flaws in the computer technology, residents experiencing prolonged telephone waiting times when contacting the council and parking tickets being issued in error.