Hospital bosses more than DOUBLE parking charges. Labour vows to abolish them
Hospital parking charges are a shameful tax on patients, carers, families – and staff.
Private parking companies are being allowed to hold both the public and medical workers to ransom – and the increase announced in Yorkshire underlines the fact.
People who work and use hospitals have nowhere else to go, and these operators know it. So raising charges by 136 per cent is an unconscionable betrayal of trust.
(If trust is the right word to use.)
Here’s how the Mirror has reported the matter:
“Hard-up hospital staff have slammed bosses over plans to more than double parking charges.
“The monthly cost could rocket from £15.50 to £36.66 – a rise of 136 per cent.
“The new fees are due to be phased in over the next six months at Scarborough and Bridlington hospitals in Yorkshire.
“Hospitals in England made nearly £70million from charging staff to park at work last year.
“But only £30million went to the NHS with much of the windfall going to private parking firms.”
See? These companies are fleecing us.
Fortunately Jeremy Corbyn has seen the way parking companies are exploiting staff and the public, and has vowed to abolish parking charges across the UK, when the Tories are finally overthrown at the ballot box and Labour returns to office.
I just been to local hospital no change & no idea where to go to pay anyway? Just so stressful when trying to get in to see really ill patients & family ! Worse still our #NHS staff having to pay to park ! https://t.co/E8QyZJr6sC
— Maureen Fitzsimmons (@mojos55) November 4, 2018
As a victim of English hospital parking charges, I can honestly say it won’t come a moment too soon.
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And the name of these latter-day highways robbers? My local one is called Legion…. For those with a bible bent “I am legion…”. And not in a good way.
Have to admit I cheat and park on the local roads close to, but of course this could mean someone can’t park near their own house.
It’s a welcome move but probably impossible without subsidies. Scotland and, I think, Wales attempted to abolish these charges and have done so in most of their hospitals. However, in the case of hospitals built under eye-wateringly expensive Labour PFI schemes, it was far too expensive to buy out the parking from those contracts. I doubt if that has changed.
LABOUR PFI schemes? Do I have to go through that debate yet again?
Why did you do that? If you hadn’t insisted on mentioning Labour we could have all agreed with pretty much everything you said.
Wales has indeed made all hospital parking free.