The rises work out at around 4% and cover both on-street and off-street parking.

There’s a £7 hike for off-street, long stay monthly season tickets, and pay and display on-street city centre parking will go up from £1.50 to £1.80 for an hour.

A new scale of charges will make it cheaper for people needing to park for 20-40 minutes.

Although the council says the increases are necessary to fund planned improvements and are in line with general retail price rises, they have already incurred the wrath of a driver who parks daily in Bell Street car park.

He said, “It will cost me £72 a month just to park my car and that’s absolutely ridiculous. I’m already clobbered for Income Tax and Council Tax and this is just like another tax on top of all the others.

“The cost of the new season ticket works out at £3.60 a day for me. I know the council needs to raise money for improving car parks but it would be good if they would recognise that people who work in the city centre sometimes don’t have any option but to travel by car.

“A cheaper season ticket for employees should be given some consideration.”

A spokesman for the council’s planning and transportation department said, “As part of the Central Dundee Parking Strategy, agreed by the council in June last year, a range of new projects and initiatives to improve parking in the city are under way.

“These include replacing the existing surface level car parks with new multi-storey facilities, replacing the existing ‘Pay and Display’ system of payment with a new ‘Pay on Foot’ system in off-street car parks and investigating the introduction of additional residents’ Parking Zones.

“These need extra expenditure, which has to come from parking income, so it was agreed that charges would be increased to cover the cost of the improvements.”