Express & Star

New Cross Hospital makes £6.5 million from parking charges

Patients and visitors at New Cross Hospital have spent more than £6.5 million on parking in just five years.

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Fees at the hospital have regularly increased since 2010, with them doubling in 2012 in a bid to bring in an extra £1.5m a year. Bosses also scrapped free disabled parking spaces that same year.

There were calls today for the charges to be scrapped, making the system more patient-friendly.

Councillor Milkinder Jaspal, a regular campaigner on hospital parking fees, said: "I am very strongly of the opinion that the parking fees for patients and visitors need to go. It is the wrong approach.

"Of course there needs to be a structure in place where people aren't just using the site all day and night without good reason, but I think charging people to visit the hospital or visit their loved ones in hospital is wrong. I would welcome a change in thinking from bosses at New Cross.

"Putting a price on hospital parking also causes problems for nearby residents, because people park in side streets to avoid the charge.

"In my opinion, this is another major concern and I think New Cross should be a good neighbour and pay for a residents' parking scheme, which would stop people from doing that unless they had the correct documents on display."

New Cross opened a new £4m multi-storey car park last year in a bid to ease congestion and free up more spaces.

There have long been complaints of visitors patients and staff clogging up side streets around the hospital in a bid to avoid paying to park.

According to a Freedom of Information request, motorists spent £994,988 to park on site in 2010/11, which rose to £1,546,380 in 2014/15.

In 2011, the fees added up to just over £1m, while in 2012 they were £1,306,196 and £1,432,058 in 2013.

When combined with the £343,846 brought in so far this year, the grand total shelled out by drivers is £6,627,782. A total of £2,410 has also been collected in parking fines and penalties since 2010.

At the moment, motorists can claim up to 15 minutes free parking at New Cross, which has five car parks, but must pay £2.30 to stay up to one hour.

A stay of between five and 24 hours costs £5.80, with a weekly ticket, valid for seven consecutive days, priced at £15.50.

Concessions are offered to renal patients receiving dialysis and patients receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment.

Gwen Nuttall, chief operating officer at Royal Wolverhampton Trust, said prices reflected the average charged at other sites across the region.

She added: "In this period we have spent over £5m on improvements and a further £195,000 on repairs. We are committed to providing a fair and competitive parking price."

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