THE NEW, temporary car park at Montem Lane Leisure centre has been labelled a disgrace by disgruntled users - who say it has turned into a mud bath.

A massive area of the busy car park was cordoned off last Tuesday to make way for the temporary ice rink while Slough’s permanent Ice Arena is refurbished.

But Slough Borough Council’s way to compensate for the reduction in spaces was has been to use a large green space on the site, which has inevitably become a “mudbath”.

The mess has revealed an obvious problem of overcrowding; with no controls in place to regulate who parks there, which parking areas people should use, nor how long they should park there for.

Users say it does not bode well for when the temporary ice rink opens for business in February.

The car park is currently free to use and is almost always full with the cars of leisure centre customers, staff, and even council employees who cannot find a space at their headquarters across the road.

Non users of the leisure centre also leave their cars there despite signs warning them not to.

One leisure centre user said: “It’s a disgrace. It’s bad enough trying to find a parking space as it is.“I use the swimming pool but there’s no allocated parking. It’s ridiculous, it really is. This is a free-for-all and it’s putting me off coming.”

Another Montem Leisure customer said: “ It’s pretty bad and very muddy.

“Hopefully they can get cracking because parking is always a problem here.

“I don’t know what they expected making this change in the winter. It’s like Glastonbury without the music.”

Another user added: “It’s been a nightmare, it’s gradually gotten worse and worse. My new car is covered in mud. I don’t think the council realised the impact it would have. What is going to happen when the temporary rink opens and there are more people?”It has emerged that the management at the leisure centre had not been given confirmation of the location of the temporary ice rink and only discovered the start date in The Observer.

Montem Leisure Centre manager, Elsa Lombard, said: “We have held talks with the council to have controls put in place in the car park.

“At the moment, everyone uses it because it is free and people even leave their cars there overnight.”

She added: “We have to think as a community, what can we do?

“Maybe people could take this opportunity to walk or cycle to get here.”

There is currently no end in sight, with SBC saying there is no provision in place to rectify the mud problem as of yet.

The refurbishment of Slough Ice Arena is not expected to be complete until July and there is at least a month of winter weather to come.