Hospital Car Park Charges

They cannot shop around if it was part of the PFI deal.

In Oxford, where there are several hospitals, it's not just the money, but more a matter of can you actually find a parking space !

Exactly!

If hospitals are getting absolutely nothing from the parking firm (I know some actually do get a percentage of the takings) why are they using them? They should be shopping around for a better deal!

Does the parking firm maintain the car park, though?

I am reliably told that the parking income from our local hospital goes to the private parking firm and not the hospital.

Hospital car parks do cost money to maintain and run and so some sort of charge is, I think, inevitable. In London, hospitals that are anywhere near stations or shopping centres would be used by commuters/shoppers.

However, I do think that people who have to visit on a regular basis/for a prolonged length of time should get either free parking or a heavily discounted permit. And I also think that a charge of £2.50 or £3 an hour is far too much. I think the MPs' behaviour was disgraceful and particularly Philip Green's who apparently, before the election, expressed his commitment to carers and was photographed carrying a placard to that effect.

Good for you Ethelbags. It always worth disputing fines that have been unfairly issued.

Signed

That is shocking ethel
It makes me very angry.

Thanks for the link djen

parking eye got me, I was taking my mother (84) to hospital after cutting her leg badly, blood was pouring down her leg and she lay ont he back seat with it raised. Couldn't get an ambulance so they said would I bring her myself.

I parked correctly in the disabled space and used her disabled card, got her inside and they dealt with the bleeding, I went to get something out of the car and found an unpleasant man taking notes, I asked him what was up and he said my car wasn't registered. I took the card into the hospital and they registered it and as the guy has said it would be ok I was not expecting a letter with a fine of £70.

I contested this saying I was unaware that a car had to be registered and asked what I should have done, should I have left her bleeding until I had registered the car. My main thought was to get her into hospital.
Also the disabled cards are not registered to a certain car but to the holder so if my mother was out with one of her friends she could use her disabled card in one of their cars. It seems pointless registering it with the hospital. I eventually got 'let off ' with the fine.
Parking eye is now not in charge of our hospital car park.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/111441

Somebody's already started a petition on the government website to stop the filibustering.

Parking Eye is truly evil ! You are photographed entering the carpark and you are photographed leaving. There is no time allowed for getting out of the car park. The speed limit is 5 mph are there are often queue's of cars leaving at busy times. There is NO allowance whatsoever. Not even a few seconds !

Is anyone living in the constituencies of the MPs mentioned in the OP?

Unless, as I mentioned, they have another motive for filibustering ie they have a better plan they wish to bring to the House for abolishing hospital car parking charges altogether, then I think what they did was at best questionable.

Philip Davies: Shipley - Your interests not self-interest
Christopher Chope: Christchurch - ?
David Nuttall: Bury North - I speak my mind and will continue to be on your side

If TheyWorkForYou what were they up to?

At my local hospital it really irritates me that we have to pay any time during the 24 hours. I do not understand why it cannot be free after maybe 6pm. If one is parking at 2am it is usually because a friend or relative is in A&E and one never knows how many hours one may be parking for so the cost can be horrendous.

Here in Colchester there is a Country Park car park a short walk from the hospital that charges £2 for up to 4 hours, it is double that in the hospital car park and spaces are hard to find. There is a new park and ride 5 minutes drive away that does not stop at the hospital but goes straight past - sensible? We are lucky that there is a bus door to door from our house.

When DD was in Chelmsford hospital for a week after birth of DGS it cost them a fortune in parking even with a special ticket for in patients. We know the area and parked on the street 5 minutes walk away.

I don't think free hospital parking is possible but maybe a uniform charge throughout the NHS would make sense. A way of paying that does not involve scrabbling for change, having to guess how long you are going to be or running around to top up the ticket would be most welcome.

No, nelliemoser

Alea does you husband get DLA or Attendance Allowance?

Indinana Oops! I should have read your whole post. I was outraged at how sensible your parking was.

Indinana That sound very reasonable to me. What sort of area is your hospital in?
Here it is 20 mins free then £3 for 4hrs which is totally unfair. I don't mind paying by the hour but that is all or nothing.
This local hospital is on the edge of a town with countryside all around. It is not as if any of the parking might be used by people not using the hospital.

Free for the first 15 minutes, then 1.20 an hour, with £12 maximum charge. There are concessions, e.g. discounts if you are attending a course of treatment for 3 or more days in a week. Also free parking for resident parents of children in hospital, or babies in NICU, for relatives of critically ill or end of life patients, for blood donors.
There is also a weekly rate, which is heavily discounted. I wish I'd known about this when my DD was in for five days after her C-section - I spent most of every day with her and my DH came in separately for an hour or so each day. We clocked up a fortune in parking fees!!
Yes, there is a problem with people using the car park for free and going off elsewhere - the hospital may be a good walk from the town but it is on a bus route (as most hospitals are) and would serve as a very handy free park and ride service!

First 30 minutes free here but then extortionate charges. Other than to collect someone who has been discharged and actually waiting to go not sure who accesses a hospital for just 30 minutes we average 2-3 hours.

Our local hospital has a weekly season ticket - parking at a reduced price - if you have to go everyday.
When I worked at a local university I had to pay a weekly charge to park with no guarantee of a space. I'm not sure why nurses should expect to park for free.

Parking is free in my part of South Wales although until it was brought in we did pay a sliding scale to park, patients and staff alike ( I work 2 days in the NHS) However in Cardiff which is in another county nearby the big teaching hospital there charges everyOne for parking and when my friend and I visited my god-daughter there it cost a packet.

Quite often the parking company is owned by the PFI contractor.
Another thing about Philip Davies is that he claims parking charges on expenses, so the tax payer pays his charges.

I visited my mother in law in the new Cramlington hospital. There was no parking charge because the machines had not been put up, but it will be/is £1 per day. That's good because it's an A&E hospital.
Unfortunately, they did not expect quite so many people to arrive by car. There were three large car parks, only one for visitors, the other two for staff. The staff ones were only half full, and the visitor one was full. I had to park on the pavement, like quite a few other cars. When I came out, there were security men putting tickets on windscreens. Fortunately I was at the other end of the carpark!