Emap has announced that it will not introduce a visitor car parking charge at Spring Fair this year despite announcing it would before Christmas.
The about face follows mass objection from exhibitors and visitors alike about the £8 charge that was to be introduced this year.

Emap has also clarified that the decision to impose a parking charge was not made solely by the NEC. A statement released yesterday said, "please disregard the earlier announcement, dated December 18, which may have wrongly given the impression that the decision to charge for parking was solely an NEC one, rather than a joint Emap-NEC decision."

The statement also asked recipients to disregard the notion that "the proposed car parking fee of £8 was a negotiated rate when in fact it is a standard NEC rate for all shows where charges are made." This is in direct contrast to the original email sent on December 18, which clearly stated "We have negotiated a subsidised rate for our visitors".

However, a charge in the future has not been ruled out, merely postponed, as Emap and the NEC "are both sensitive to the fact that more notice is required before this change is implemented".