BCP Council have admitted they need to "do more" to promote the new Park and Ride after just 0.1 per-cent of visitors used the service last weekend.

The council have admitted they need to better promote their new Park and Ride at Kings Park following a poor up-take in the service contributing to parking chaos in the town centre.

Bournemouth saw 400,000 visitors descend on its coastline last weekend, June 12 and 13, during the mini-heatwave.

Residents in areas of Bournemouth and Poole faced drivers parking their cars on double yellow lines, on grass verges, across driveways and even in the middle of roundabouts - more than 800 parking tickets were issued.

This was after a host of seafront car parks were at capacity before 10am on Sunday.

READ MORE: Influx of visitors to Bournemouth leads to illegal parking mayhem

READ MORE: Bournemouth beach: 400,000 visitors on scorching weekend

Bournemouth Echo:

Illegal parking caused chaos across the conurbation during the weekend.

BCP Council reported that more than 400,000 people visited the area over the weekend.

Just 162 people used the service on Saturday, June 12 with a slight improvement of 410 people using the service on Sunday, June 13.

According to the council's official figures this suggests that 0.14 per-cent of visitors to Bournemouth used the new service.

Councillor Mike Greene, Portfolio Holder for Transport and Sustainability, BCP Council commented:

“Our Park and Ride facility at Kings Park has been running for a couple of weeks.

"While I’m pleased that a number of people have already taken advantage of it, I’m also aware that we need to do more to inform people of this option when they come for a day at the beach.

"We already have signage on the Wessex Way but we’re looking into various other options to highlight both this Park and Ride and the one in Poole opening in July.

“This is a viable way of welcoming people back to our area while reducing congestion on the highway network.

"I hope both residents and visitors will continue to use and spread the word about this new seasonal park and ride facility over the summer, which will continue to help many people enjoy a great day out in our beautiful resort.”

The Park and Ride at Kings Park has 300 car parking spaces, the council could not provide the figures for the number of cars that used the service during the weekend.

The service runs from King Park to Boscombe Pier and costs £5 to park with a free Morebus service every 15 minutes. It runs every weekend in June and July and daily from 24 July to 1 September 2021.