Nine things you said about South Shields' December parking scheme

Will you be taking advantage of the free parking?

But the news did not add to some of your Christmas cheer.

The initiative, which will see council-owned car parks in and around South Shields town centre be free after 3pm for the month of December, was announced in a bid to boost the town's economy as the festive season gets into full swing.

Free car parking initiative in South Shields during December

But while some traders have hailed the plan as "too little too late" we wanted to know what you thought.

We asked you on social media if you thought the scheme would help with a boost for South Shields' businesses.

And here's what you had to say.

Do you think South Tyneside's Christmas parking scheme is 'too little too late'?

Steve Smigs Smith: "Yup, I would say it's far too little and far far far too late. Most of the general public have been telling them to scrap it for years but for some reason the council and MP's and the other people in power tend to be 5 paces behind everyone else when it comes to common sense."

Wendy Evans: "Shields is such a poor shopping area now, it's not worth visiting, council should help invest in the shops instead of a multi-million pound library."

Chris Whalen: "Definitely should be free all the time to attract people to come and see our empty high street."

Lynne Harper: "Surely the council should have abolished parking charges in the town a long time ago, perhaps if they had they would have stopped the town from dying? How sad it is to come back and see King Street now compared to how it was."

David Vickers: "Make it all day and make it 365 days a year and it might make a difference."

Shirley Miller: "Rarely use the shops there's not much to invite us and if I do drive downtown it would be before 3 anyway!"

Trevor Macdonald: "Yes but the council needs to drop their commercial rates - its no good landlords dropping rents and offering incentives to get tenants if the business rates are costing more than the rent."

Graham Cook: "Shame there's no decent shops to shop at."

Robert Boswell: "Should be all year round not just December then it might just breathe some life into King Street."