ANDOVER shoppers will have longer to stock up on their festive goodies and tantalising treats this Christmas, as Test Valley Borough Council is set to offer one hour’s free parking this December.

Visitors will be able to make use of the offer on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from Monday, November 30 to Wednesday, December 16 and will need to purchase a minimum of one hour’s parking in any Test Valley Borough Council car park to qualify.

They then need to display the Christmas voucher on their dashboard alongside a valid pay and display ticket to get another hour of parking for free.

The voucher can also be used with a Ringo payment.

The council’s car parks continue to be free to use after 4pm, so during the offer period visitors will be able to stay in town from 2pm until late for 90p.

Shoppers can collect vouchers from the council’s Beech Hurst office, The Lights theatre or participating retailers.

Look out for the poster in shop windows and pop in to collect the voucher.

Alternatively, vouchers can be downloaded from the council’s website testvalley.gov.uk or cut out from the autumn issue of Test Valley News, which was distributed to all households from late October.

Retailers can contact town centre manager Chris Gregory for vouchers to hand out to their customers.

Planning Policy and Transport portfolio holder Cllr Martin Hatley welcomed the offer.

He said: “The car park voucher scheme is now in its third year and is very popular with our residents.

“The scheme helps to boost the local economy by encouraging people to shop in our towns for longer and take advantage of the range of unique shops as well as favourite high street brands.”

He added: “In addition to the fantastic voucher scheme, our car parks continue to be free on Sundays and bank holidays throughout the year which is another great incentive to visit and shop in our towns.”