Shoppers in the city centre say it took almost five hours to exit the Manchester Arndale’s multi-storey car parks this weekend.
Motorists say they were crawling along in the multi-storey car park for hours on end.
One person slammed the lack of management of the parking complex after spending ‘four hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic’.
Another ‘trapped’ shopper said they arrived back to their car at 5pm but didn’t manage to actually exit the Arndale car park until 9.40pm last night.
@manarndale We currently seem to be trapped in the multi storey parking complex. We arrived back at our car at 5pm and it is now 8pm, we are on level 12. To illustrate how things are going the arrow is over a car which at 5pm was in the yellow square, so 5 spaces in that time. pic.twitter.com/CLp0Yjw5oR
They even helpfully shared a diagram showing that a car in front had travelled only ‘five spaces’ in the space of three hours.
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One tweet showed someone timing their journey (or lack of) on their phone, racking up an eye-watering five hours, three minutes and two seconds in the multi-storey.
@MENnewsdesk I think have officially broken the record for the longest time trying to exit the Arndale Car Park on Saturday 26th November. It took us 5 hours 3 minutes to get from Level 12 to the exit. It is not fit for purpose Manchester Council!! FUMING! pic.twitter.com/VK6sTBX9N2
Other images show cars snaked back on the spiralled ramp leading in and out of the space.
They wrote: “Can someone come and help in the Arndale carpark! On floor 11 and we have been static for 1hr. Most expensive carpark I’ve ever been in and now I can’t get out.
One person tweeted: “Never again. A nightmare being stuck in your car park yesterday for 4 hours!!!! Bumper to bumper traffic queues, no management from staff, wasted fuel, extortionate fees! Babies, children, disabled & elderly all trapped. Disgusting (none) management!”
Replying to several people on Twitter, they said: “Hi – we’re sorry to hear about your experience. The car park adjacent to us is owned & managed by @ManCityCouncil.
“We believe the congestion was due to traffic flow on the surrounding streets. If you have any other queries we would recommend you contact the Council directly.”
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TfGM’s Head of Highways, Peter Boulton, said: “Manchester is a top destination and with a number of events and the Christmas markets adding to the usual retail and leisure offering, the last couple of weekends have seen increased numbers of people travelling into the city centre by both car and public transport.
“We’d encourage anyone coming to Manchester to think about how they are going to get in, around and out of the city and to plan their journey in advance, avoiding the busiest times and routes where possible.”
Work to make Stevenson Square ‘more pedestrian and cyclist friendly’ begins next week
Emily Sergeant
Improvement works to make Stevenson Square more accessible for pedestrians and cyclists is to finally begin next week.
After it was confirmed back in 2022 that the majority of the Northern Quarter square would remain pedestrianised following a trial that proved successful during the COVID pandemic, Manchester City Council has now revealed that contractors will begin work on the site to bring “a range of improvements to the area” from next week.
Work is to officially begin on Monday 5 June, and is expected to continue right through until October.
Councillors says it’s been their ambition for several years to carry out travel improvement works in Stevenson Square to not only “improve the amenity of the area”, but also implement changes that will “encourage a greater degree of walking and cycling”.
Work to make Stevenson Square ‘more pedestrian and cyclist friendly’ begins next week / Credit: Manchester City Council | David Dixon (via Geograph)
Some of the scheduled works include new pedestrian crossings at the junctions of Hilton and Oldham Street, Hilton and Newton Street, and Lever Street and Stevenson Square, as well as new tactile paving, the removal of pay and display bays, and the introduction of static blocks to help regulate vehicle access to the area.
There also be a new two-way cycleway running through Stevenson Square itself, and plenty of additional seating added to the ever-popular social hub.
Improvement works are expected to continue right through until October 2023 / Credit: TfGM
Work in Stevenson Square forms the second section of the Northern Quarter Walking and Cycling Scheme, and is all part of Manchester City Council’s new wider ‘Active Travel’ strategy to put walking and cycling “at the heart of transport policy” and work towards making Manchester a zero-carbon city.
The Council says work is progressing well to create a joined-up network that runs between Piccadilly and Victoria Railway Stations.
Councillor Tracey Rawlins, Executive Member for Environment and Transport at Manchester City Council, says that the work taking place over the coming months “will help make this area a more vibrant and accessible part of Manchester.”
Featured Image – TfGM
City Centre
Travel advice issued as 300,000 people prepare to attend Manchester gigs… amid train strikes
Emily Sergeant
Those heading into Manchester this weekend are being urged to plan ahead for what’s expected to be the busiest travel day of the year so far.
More than 300,000 people are set to descend on the city’s major events venues this week from Wednesday right through until Sunday (31 May – 4 June) to see some of the world’s biggest music artists take to the stage – with Coldplay taking over the Etihad Stadium, Arctic Monkeys at Emirates Old Trafford, and Sir Elton John at the AO Arena.
Not only that, but thousands more will also be making their way to the free festival, We Invented the Weekend, at MediaCityUK and Salford Quays on Saturday and Sunday.
But despite it being one of the busiest periods the Greater Manchester events calendar has seen all year so far, music lovers and festivalgoers have a whole host of rail strikes to battle with.
📣 It's a busy time for Manchester over the coming week! Here is a brief overview of what's to come:
– Rail strikes – Coldplay at the Etihad – Arctic Monkeys at Emirates Old Trafford – Elton John at AO Arena
— Transport for Greater Manchester 🚲🚶🏾♀️ (@OfficialTfGM) May 28, 2023
As part of what is an ongoing battle between the Government and rail unions RMT and Aslef over pay, pensions, and working conditions, coordinated days of industrial action are planned on the railways nationwide for Wednesday 31 May, Friday 2, and Saturday 3 June – with train timetables and operating hours set to be “significantly affected”.
And if all of that disruption wasn’t enough as it is, the strike action on Saturday also coincides with the first-ever Manchester Derby FA Cup final between Manchester City and Manchester United, with around 90,000 fans due to make the journey to watch the match live inside Wembley, and thousands more expected to travel to the capital to soak in the atmosphere.
Coldplay and Arctic Monkeys are set to play several massive shows in Manchester this week / Credit: Coldplay (via Instagram) | Arctic Monkeys (via Instagram)
In preparation for all these major events taking place, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has issued travel advice and is strongly encouraging people to “plan ahead”.
TfGM is advising that people use the Metrolink as this will be the “quickest and most-reliable way” of travelling in and around the city centre across the weekend.
Drivers are being “strongly advised” not to drive into the city centre, with congestion expected in the city centre and on the Inner Ring Road across the weekend – but those who have no option but to drive are asked to add “a significant amount of additional time” to their journeys.
Sir Elton John is arriving in Manchester as part of the final tour of his career / Credit: Elton John (via Instagram)
Sean Dyball, TfGM’s Head of Customer Experience, says they are preparing for “one of the busiest periods of the year” this weekend.
“We are expecting major congestion on Saturday and we strongly encourage anyone travelling into the city centre to plan ahead and allow sufficient time for their journeys,” he added.
“Throughout the weekend we will be constantly updating the customer information available on our website and across our social media channels to help people make informed journey choices so they can save them time and avoid disruption.”
Dedicated travel guidance for each of the events happening this week can be found on TfGM’s website.
Daisy Jackson -
28th November 2022 
