THESE images show the sorry state of Worcester's now-defunct park and ride - with the shadow transport minister lamenting its closure.

Labour big-hitter Mary Creagh visited the city this afternoon to take a look at the Perdiswell site which controversially shut in September.

The facility, off John Comyn Drive, is now kept secure by big concrete bollards and huge metal fencing to keep trespassers like travellers out at a cost of £3,000 per month.

Mrs Creagh, one of Labour leader Ed Miliband's high-fliers, said Worcester is one of those cities facing a "congestion crisis".

"I think it looks a disgrace and it's actually pretty heartbreaking to see," she said.

"Public transport is a key way of cutting congestion, across the country we've seen these sort of decisions made because of a lack of understanding about the role it plays.

"Councils are facing these huge cuts in Government funding so we're ending up with all these 'ghost bus stops' around the country, there's 1,300 routes which have gone over the last four years.

"Yet the cost to congestion is £4 billion. A way of reducing that is the buses, but there's a general lack of commitment to public transport."

She told your Worcester News she thought the park and ride's closure was avoidable, suggesting better publicity and changes to pricing could have helped.

The loss-making sites cost taxpayers £296,870 last year and has declined in popularity for several years.

It was used more than 450,000 times in 2008, but last year it reached a record low of just 274,935.

Mrs Creagh said: "People will only use a service if they are confident in it, and know it will get them where they need to be reliably.

"If there were less people using it, then it's the design and running of the service that needed to be looked at."

During her visit she also lauded cycling as a congestion solution, saying despite rapid improvements in popularity just two per cent of people do it.

"If we could double that to four per cent it would go a long way to solving the congestion crisis," she said.

“If cycling was a medicine, every doctor in the country would prescribe it – we have obesity problems, inactivity and a mental health crisis, cycling and walking can help, it takes your mind off worries and cuts congestion.”

During her visit she was accompanied by Councillor Joy Squires, Worcester’s Labour parliamentary candidate, who also described the site as “very sad”.

The county council decided to axe the park and ride as part of a plan to save £1.6 million from public transport.

A previous plan to scrap its entire £3 million yearly buses subsidy was scrapped due to an outcry.

The authority maintains the site lost too much money to be viable, and that there was no interest from any private operators in taking it on despite concerted appeals.

It has also pointed to the usage, saying less than 200 cars were on the site some days, compared to 23,000 vehicles on the Barbourne Road corridor.

Mrs Creagh is MP for Wakefield, where she holds a tiny 1,613 majority.

She was handed the role of shadow transport secretary in October last year and is considered a good bet for a Cabinet role if Labour returns to Government in 2015.