THE owner of a top-rated Hereford restaurant and guest apartments says there’s something missing from the city’s bid to sell itself as a high-end destination – secure overnight parking.

Early morning calls are all part of the service at Roland Pearton’s Miro apartments in the city centre – because they have to be.

Guests often have to rouse themselves to put money into whatever meter their car is parked on, if Roland isn’t doing it for them.

Roland, who runs the top-rated Miro restaurant in Union Street, says it’s time the city thought about a secure overnight parking facility for the kind of visitors it gets, and wants to see more of.

Roland’s four self-catering apartments are set behind the restaurant, with the whole package attracting admiring notices from critics and rating organisations alike, having only been operating since March this year.

But Roland is sure the lack of secure overnight parking has cost him business, and probably others in his line of work too.

Such parking and a related 24-hour ticket scheme are, he says, about what the city wants to be when there are many, like him, who believe in its potential.

But a secure overnight parking facility for the city does not feature in Herefordshire Council’s overhaul of parking charges and options across the county.

The council says that with parking free from 6pm to 8am it is under no obligation to provide a secure facility, nor is there any evidence of demand.

For now, secure parking will be left to the planning process and the discretion of the would-be provider.