City officials in Tampere in south-central Finland have indefinitely shelved plans to increase parking fees, as they await a decision on the legality of the proposed changes.

The suspension of the fee change means that – for the moment at least – motorists will not have to pay for Sunday parking in the city’s zone 1 area. As a result, people heading into town for May Day festivities on Wednesday will be able to park on the streets at no extra charge.

The planned parking fee hike was due to take effect from the beginning of May, so city officials had already made progress installing traffic signs as well modifying parking machines with stickers notifying users of the new charges.

Starting from 1 May, motorists were supposed to pay 1.60 euros/hour to park in the city’s central zone, instead of parking for no charge. That is half of the normal weekday parking fee of 3.20/hour.

At the same time, city leaders had planned to expand the reach of the parking zones and to increase fees in zones 2 and 3, with drivers having to fork out 2 euros/hour in zone 2 and 1.20/hour in zone 3.