THE Financial Services Authority in London is to pay out an estimated £120,000 to staff who are losing their free company car parking spaces under a move to provide them for essential car users only. Bosses at the authority, formerly the Personal Investment Authority, made the decision on provision of spaces because a move to Canary Wharf from several sites around the capital saw a dramatic drop in available parking.

But cutting out free parking meant that around 30 executives who had a parking space written into their contracts had to be compensated. Each employee will receive around £3,500 based on an annual parking space being worth £1,500 and compensation covering three years, although private parking spaces can cost up to £17 for four hours, meaning those paying on some private sites would reach the £1,500 estimate in weeks.

A spokeswoman for the FSA said: 'This is something we are required to do by employment legislation. There are 2,000 staff moving into our new offices in Canary Wharf and there are not going to be even half that number of parking spaces. To be fair to all people in the company, we decided to restrict spaces to only those who need them for business use. It is the same as hot-desking, so each parking space is being used by several people.'