Drivers fear chaos at Elstree and Borehamwood station after short-term parking spaces were reduced.

Thameslink Railway, which manages the station’s parking, has reduced the number of parking bays for passenger pick up and drop off from 11 to four, leasing out seven to a taxi company.

The company claims the decision was made in response to motorists hogging the spaces, despite not using the station – which had an “adverse effect” on people who genuinely needed them.

But drivers have criticised the lack of consultation, and the effect it will have on the area’s growing population.

Bob Brooke, of Borehamwood, first noticed the change last week when picking his daughter up from the station.

The 65-year-old said: “It is absolutely nuts. Nobody seems to know anything. There seems to be no information anywhere. You come to meet people off the train and you are confronted with derisory parking spaces.

“We are a growing town, and it is going to only get busier, yet all they have given is this silly little space. It is so bad. I am speechless.

“It can only get worse. They want more people to use the network, yet they are taking space away. It is absolute bedlam picking up in rush hour, to the point where traffic is backing out into the road. This really is crazy.”

Mr Brooke said the lack of consultation was “disappointing.”

He said: “It is shocking to be given no notice whatsoever, then just to impose something like this. We have no redress, we have not been invited to make comments. Even the local authority seems not to know what is going on.

“It is disappointing. Again, mainly because there is no consultation about what is happening, and no staff are able to offer you information.”

Mr Brooke added: “It is more of a money making machine rather than providing a service for customers of the railway network. Who knows what is going to happen, we are all in the dark.”

Jack Wigglesworth, 73, of Deacons Heights, Elstree, said: “It is typical, they make it so difficult for people. Obviously it gets full. There are not just three people getting off the train. Over the years there is less and less space for cars, and more and more people needing them.”

In a statement, a spokesman for Thameslink Railway said: "We are sensitive to our passengers’ need for short-term parking at Elstree & Borehamwood station. Unfortunately, many have been monopolised by motorists who are not on railway business which was having an adverse effect on legitimate use by taxis and people collecting passengers.

“We therefore decided to lease seven of the spaces to a local taxi company that serves the station, retaining four for passenger pick up and drop off. We have also stepped up policing of the parking bays to ensure they are properly used and available for passengers."