Kent county council has waded into a row over a steep rise in car parking charges at rail stations.

The increases, introduced this week, come on top of an average 6% hike in rail fares this year.

The move sees the daily charge at Ashford International going up from £5.50 to £6.00.

It also means there are six Southeastern car parks – Hildenborough, Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Dartford and two at Sevenoaks – where it costs more than £1,000 a year to park.

Most expensive is Sevenoaks, which now costs £1,345 a year – an increase of £92.50 – to park next to the station.

Two stations break the £1,000 barrier for the first time – Tunbridge Wells premier parking (£1,120 up from £933.50) and Hildenborough (£1,026 up from £992).

Tonbridge (£1,128.50,) Sevenoaks' mixed use car park (£1,175) and Dartford (£1,072) stay the same.

Bryan Sweetland, Cabinet member for environment, highways and waste, said: "These increases are totally unacceptable, coming right on top of January’s average rise of 6% in rail fares.

"A fairer approach would have been to keep the rise in car park charges in line with fare rises, at RPI +1%.

Some of these new charges represent increases of up to 30%, which is unfair for commuters who have no alternative but to park at their local station.

"We shall be raising this issue with Southeastern Railway, who are responsible for setting parking charges at their stations."

But SouthEastern says more than a third of its sites will see no increase to the tariff or it will be reduced.