An employer says she worries about her staff walking to work along a poorly lit path after they were forced to park in a different place due to changes brought in by a council.

Claire Barton, head baker at The Bakehouse at 124, in High Street, Tonbridge, says her staff have to walk through a park to get to work after Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council (TMBC) reclassified the nearest car park as short-stay, rather than long-stay.

Her employees would previously park in the long-stay Upper Castle Field car park, close to the high street.

However, the council has reclassified it as short-stay, so parking there becomes far more expensive after four hours.

It would cost roughly £15 to park there for their shift – compared with £6.80 previously.

TMBC suggests people working in the high street should use the long-stay Lower Castle Field car park, which is cheaper but further away.

Concerns have been raised about the route from the car park to the town.

Claire said: "I feel that if a member of staff starting work at three or four in the morning, really the shortest distance between their car and the front door of my shop is the best solution.

"Certainly it is always at the back of my mind as an employer that my staff may not be safe walking from the council car park into my shop."

She added that there had been several incidences of staff feeling threatened while walking the route.

Junior baker Emilia Bagge said the walk to work made her feel unsafe. She said: "Especially now as the mornings are getting darker, it definitely feels a bit more unsafe.

"I have to walk quite often in the dark to get into work, which as a young female is not really ideal.

"It's disappointing that the council don't take this into consideration when upping the cost of car parks."

The leader of the council, Cllr Matt Boughton (Con) said the reclassification was to encourage a higher turnover of people visiting the high street.

He continued: "We are looking at some really big interventions that can take place in the town centre that will mean that we resolve not just the issues around parking - I do accept there are issues around parking - but also to look at some of the long term uses of land in the town centre to make sure we are doing everything we can to regenerate the area and bring more people into the town."

TMBC is set to start a further review of the car parks.

Cllr Boughton said: "We are currently in the middle of a project which will enable lighting across the whole of the river, from Cannon Lane to Avebury Avenue down in Tonbridge."