WORK to improve car parking at Worcestershire Royal Hospital has begun with a new one-way system opened this week.

The new system has been designed to improve traffic flow around the complex and create 140 new parking spaces and a cycle storage area.

Peter Male, director of estates and facilities for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said visitors to the hospital should expect some disruption while associated works are carried out over the next three weeks.

The second phase of the project, expansion of the south car park to create another 136 spaces, should begin in March after being deferred for ecological reasons associated with a colony of Great Crested Newts.