THE new park-and-ride service in Worcester has been hailed a success - though trade has fallen off since fees were introduced.

More than 2,500 people hopped on the buses travelling to and from Perdiswell in the scheme's first, free, week.

Worcester North Park-and-Ride, which is based on the Droitwich Road, carried around 500 people a day.

This meant that around 250 fewer cars were on the city's streets.

But in its second week, between Monday, April 23 and Friday, April 27, there were around 150 fewer cars on the streets each day.

"It's very encouraging," said Paul Kyte, assistant engineer at Worcester City Council.

"It was difficult to gauge the success of the service in its first week because it was free and during the Easter holidays.

"But on the first paying Saturday we had more people than on the free Saturday.

"We're quite pleased with the way it's going."

The long-term plan of Worcestershire County Council, which is overseeing the service, is to create two further services around the city.