SPORT lovers claim they face a competition before they even get inside Basildon’s £38million Sporting Village.

Motorists are having to fight to get parked in the complex’s car park, with some having to pull up on verges.

They claim there are not enough parking spaces for people wanting to use the Sporting Village, in Gloucester Park, which has become increasingly popular.

Bad nights to park include Mondays, where there is demand on the complex’s gym, swimming pool, and its athletics at the same time. Pauline Thorogood, 46, an accounts and admin manager from Wickford, takes her son to the athletics club on Monday evenings.

She said: “This is the second time I’ve used the car park and luckily I managed to get a space even though it’s really packed.

“There is a shocking number of cars here this evening.”

Darren Hubbard, 45, a bus driver, from Redgrave Road, Basildon, said he had to park on the verge outside the centre because there were not enough parking spaces.

He said: “This is the first time I’ve come here to play football with my friends.

“It’s busy in the car park because a lot of people are excited about the new centre, so they want to come along and try it out. The bosses should have anticipated how busy it would be – If this happens again we may have to find somewhere else to play football.”

More than 10,000 people have visited the centre since its opening weekend in April.

The Sporting Village boasts a host of facilities including a 32-ft climbing wall, and a 50-metre Olympic-size swimming pool.

Kevin Blake, Basildon councillor for leisure and arts, said: “We do have the overflow car park with additional parking spaces, and we know there is a concern with parking by centre users.

“We want our customers to be happy with the facilities, so there may be plans to build more spaces. But there is no intention to build on any more green belt land for this development.

“With any project there are always going to be teething problems, and I must say that the council and Everyone Active, which manages the centre, are at the early stages in dealing with this matter.”