Hospital parking charges to hit patients in the pocket

Patients and visitors attending Scunthorpe, Grimsby and Goole hospitals will be forced to pay an extra 10p from September 1 2017.

This is the first time increases have been implemented in two years. The £2 fixed rate tariff for blue badge holders will remain the same and existing concessions for long term users and cancer patients will continue.

As a result of the increases new parking machines are being installed at all three hospitals giving a full range of payment options including contactless, card, cash and app payments.

Director of estates and facilities, Jug Johal, said: “This is the first increase in parking charges since 2015. The majority of the money we receive in fees from drivers is invested to pay for security and maintenance of our parking services to keep patients and staff safe while on our sites. Any surplus is used directly for patient care across the Trust.

“Improvements we are making include the introduction of automatic number plate recognition to reduce waiting at the barriers, new payment machines with more ways to pay and, at Goole, we are installing a pay-on-exit barrier at the request of patients and visitors.”

But what do you think about the increases – are they fair?