Lights and music make Brum car park the best

A car park in a Birmingham shopping centre has been named as the best place to park in Britain.

The car park of the Mailbox complex in Birmingham was praised by for its good lighting, generous space in the bays and the background music played throughout.

The assessment of British car parks was commissioned by the AA and carried out by Kevin Beresford of the Car Park Appreciation Society. Beresford said of the Mailbox car park: 'It's a stylish building, which helps, and it's easy to get into and out of, though it's not that cheap. You get what you pay for.'

Britain's worst car park, according to Beresford's study, was the International Press Centre in London. 'It's expensive and has no real parking spaces, just nooks and crannies,' said Mr Beresford. 'Trying to turn around in there would be almost impossible.'

A book has now been compiled of the findings, called Parking Mad, which follows up Beresford's unexpected previous best-selling book about British roundabouts.