Hospital parking fees. What's the answer

[cadygal257]

Just watching morning news and it's a big topic this morning. I'm just not sure what the right answer is.
I spend a lot of time at three separate hospitals.

Hospital A- near a city centre, if they didn't charge for parking it would be full of people who work or shop nearby

Hospital b- similar issue but near a large town centre, so again would be full of people working in the nearest town

Hospital c. Could offer free parking as no big shops or business nearby

I suppose you could introduce a "verified parking system" but that's got to be paid for as well and who covers that's

I honestly think there is no easy answer to this and believe me I would highly benefit from free hospital parking, dread to think what I spend each month

Parking is extortionate at our hospital. I was there for just over an hour a couple of weeks ago taking my mum to A and E. Parking was £4.50. Luckily I got a free parking permit when DS had to be admitted or I'd have been bankrupt.

Patients receiving Cancer treatment and those who are disabled park for free at nhs sites. You often have to get the ticket validated at reception.

My trust (where I work) has multiple sites and some are free but others, where mortgage type arrangements are in place, charge. I pay over £50 a month to park at work. I’d love free parking but not at the expense of care.

Plenty of cancer patients do end up paying for parking - at least at the beginning of their treatment, where they may not know about the scheme or be waiting for validation; when you've just been diagnosed, claiming a free parking pass isn't usually at the top of your priority list.

A lot of public car parks - including hospitals - are now moving to charge blue badge holders for parking. So deliberately nasty.

However, contrary to how so many people seem to believe, society isn't neatly divided into blue badge-holders and perfectly able-bodied people. There are loads of us who are fortunate enough not to have to depend on a blue badge, but who do nevertheless massively struggle with disabilities of various kinds and mobility problems.

There is no comprehensive national list of all disabled people, therefore there is no possible way of ensuring that disabled people's needs are accommodated and that they are not actively discriminated against, if you are solely relying on the possession of a blue badge and wilfully ignoring everybody else's accessibility needs.

Although I agree with you it is worth noting hospitals aren’t allowed to charge blue badge holders. That is in the mandatory part of the hospital parking guidance.

I’ve got a blue badge. There’s never any disabled parking spaces available at my hellish hospital.

Ive started to ask to be referred elsewhere.

A lot of public car parks - including hospitals - are now moving to charge blue badge holders for parking. So deliberately nasty.

I disagree. Or rather you need to focus your anger.

I know a few instances where BB parking was moved from free to being charged. In each instance, the available parking suddenly increased. Why ? Because it was painfully obvious a lot of BBs are misused to save a few quid. The most egregious example being a solicitor who was caught misusing his aunts BB for 3 years to save £50,000 in on street parking.

So in a society which would rather disabled people didn't exist, charging for BB parking to deter cunts is actually a rare shaft of concern.

That’s so nice.
Because then the BB holders who struggle to pay for said parking have to - no other choice.
It’s an amazing solution, I fully agree <huge sarcasm>

Well…. At my hospital (was there this am).
You have a few spaces for BB. Very few and always taken unless you arrive before 9.00am. That’s the free ones.

And then a few more inside the pay fur car park. Those spaces at least give you the ability to open doors widely etc…

In reality, I always park in a normal space. And pay. Because there is nothing else.

I use hospitals frequently and am very unwell with cancer. I still use public transport, or occasionally a taxi. I don’t have a car or know anybody locally who has a car.

One of the answers is to stop any more hospitals being moved out of city and town centres. Another is to have a GP service that is functioning and appears to be functioning, so fewer hospital visits result.

I have recently spent too long at my parents' local hospital. Day rates are pricey but you can get a 1 week ticket for £15 which I thought was very reasonable.

You actually can't park at our local hospital (SE London). DP had a heart attack in September, I drove straight there to be with him, spent the best part of an hour trying to get into the car park and find a space. Drove back home and got an uber. I'd happily have paid whatever they wanted at that point.

OK, I stand corrected. I'm very glad to hear that.

It doesn't help all the other disabled and vulnerable people, though, does it?

Indeed. I fail to see how you'd reach the conclusion that, because BB spaces are now more readily available, because of charging, it must mean that those previously using them were non-BB-holders abusing them.

Why would you assume that all BB-holders are financially comfortable and wouldn't, like everybody else, find themselves having to go without expensive essentials because they simply cannot afford them?

Blue badges are awarded to anybody who is deemed to qualify for them owing to their disability; they are not only given to well-off disabled folk.

I'm actually quite open-mouthed at the idea that places are charging disabled people to park out of their concern for them! Why not go the whole hog and charge £250 per hour for BB parking, then? That would guarantee that no non-BB-holder would ever park there. The 99.9% of genuine BB-holders who also can't ever afford to park there would be unfortunate collateral, but, hey, we've got to show our love for disabled folk, because we care!!

Indeed. I fail to see how you'd reach the conclusion that, because BB spaces are now more readily available, because of charging, it must meanthat those previously using them were non-BB-holders abusing them.

It was very simple. By asking the people that made the decision.

Why would you assume that all BB-holders are financially comfortable and wouldn't, like everybody else, find themselves having to go without expensive essentials because they simply cannot afford them?

Who is assuming that. In the cases I know of the decision wasn't "These disabled folk are loaded, let's rinse them"

Blue badges are awarded to anybody who is deemed to qualify for them owing to their disability; they are not only given to well-off disabled folk.

Their abuse for financial gain (i.e. saving a few quid on parking) is similarly equal opportunities for scumbags.

I'm actually quite open-mouthed at the idea that places are charging disabled people to park out of their concern for them!

I agree that concern for the disabled wasn't necessarily the primary concern (because it rarely is). In the instances I mentioned it was part of an exercise to demonstrate provision for the disabled was adequate - which means policing access to the resources. And one way is to charge (there are others, of course).

Personally I would quite happily see any abuse of facilities provided under the Equality Act as a hate crime with summary execution. However given the perilous nature of our army, we probably haven't enough bullets.

My DH has a blue badge. When he was younger and able to walk okay he would get the bus, walk places or park further out where it is cheap and walk in. Now he has no choice but to park as physically close as he can to where he wants to go. This would mean paying way more on parking if he was charged, than he ever had to pay before being disabled.
Just imagine the cost to you if suddenly you had to get by taxi or car as close as possible to wherever you were going?

Our local hospital is always so busy it's hard to get a spot, first 30 mins is free and then it's not too bad (compared to parking elsewhere)

Last year I was having radiotherapy treatment and had free parking - they verified your ticket and so on exit it was no charge - much appreciated .

You don't need massive busses, if you add more in during peak times so much the better.
The late night shifts would be covered by a single bus, and if people know it will be at set times, after all your just taking people back to their cars, probably staff .
The housing means a nurse or doctor could change jobs and know they would be housed.
Plus when a hospital is built, it could claim the land it needed, before hand, thus being more contained...

If you live in the city, that's fine. Public transport in rural areas is often non-existent.

I know some people (and believe me, they're not friends) who like it that way as it "keeps the riff raff out".

No it isn’t.

We are served by Trans Pennine Express. They were taken into government ownership as they are so shite. They are still shite

Bus services have been cut by a third. My big suburb in a big city has practically no buses now.

Just had to scope a journey for a friend, and the rush hour 8 mile journey by bus takes 1 hours 34 minutes. This is in the West Midlands. The Google Maps recommended route is 14 miles via motorway.

In other news, the mystery as to why WFH hasn't died a death continues.

I think the problem is a lot of hospitals are out of town and most bus routes seem to go back and forth from a town centre bus station. You might not be that far away from the hospital but it can take a long time to sit in traffic going to the bus station then more traffic going from the bus station towards the hospital. That's no one's first choice.

one of the issue is that hospitals were build 20, 30 or more years ago.
Since then they’ve been reorganised, some them expanded massively to cover huge areas as ‘specialist hospitals’
This was done at the detriment of car parks and with no other possibilities to park nearby either.
Or the hospital is set right on the middle of the town centre and serve huge areas.
eg my MIL hospital on the east coast takes patients coming from the west coast. Think Newcastle/Carlisle. She ‘only’ has one hour drive to get there herself but there are no direct buses joining her town to the hospital town, let alone the hospital. So it’s either travelling by car or using the hospital transport service (which is now non existant)

That hasn't explained how you think this universal 24/7 bus provision is going to be staffed. It doesn't matter what size the bus is, still needs a driver.