Royal Shrewsbury Hospital parking ‘totally inadequate’
Wednesday 9th February 2011, 9:13AM GMT.
Parking at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital has been branded “totally inadequate”, with patients forced to pay fines for leaving cars on grass verges or risk missing appointments.
That is the claim of Tina Houston, from Battlefield in Shrewsbury, who visited the hospital with her husband on Monday for an appointment with a consultant.
She claims the couple could not even find a space on the overflow car park and were forced to park outside a bay.
Despite buying a £2 ticket and constant checks every 15 minutes, the couple received a £15 fine.
Mrs Houston said around 25 other cars had been hit with fines as people were left with no option but to park awkwardly across the site because of a sheer lack of spaces.
She said: “The parking facilities are totally inadequate.
“We were there at a busy time during visiting opening hours and there were other things on in the day surgery and educational centre. But there was just nowhere to park.
“People were having to leave their cars on grass verges and it just adds greater stress to patients needing to go to hospital.
“My husband wanted to be with me for the appointment but he had to go out every 15 minutes to check on the car.
“When I spoke to a member of staff they told me people were always complaining about the parking and something needs to be done.”
Mrs Houston said people would soon be forced to start parking in neighbouring streets if the problem was not sorted out, which would lead to problems for nearby residents.
A spokesman for the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust said that bosses would encourage anyone finding it difficult to park to talk to parking attendants who are based on site.
He said they would be on hand to provide advice on where to park so people could get to appointments.
“The trust would like to apologise for any inconvenience this experience caused,” he added.
“Travelling to hospital can be an anxious time, so we do urge people to allow plenty of time to park and to talk to the car parking attendants if you are finding it difficult to park.”
For more information about parking visit www.sath.nhs.uk/patients-and-visitors/Getting-to-us/car_parking.aspx
By Sam Pinnington
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If it isn’t owned and operated by the Council then it’s not a fine and they cannot legally enforce it. Don’t pay a penny until you’ve done some research.
This is a good starting point:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets
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It’s worth noting that these “fines” are nothing of the sort.
See:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets
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Yes, this is one of the things that worries me when they talk about moving services to Shrewsbury from Telford – far more cars arriving (taking a bus or train is not really an option) and having nowhere to park.
And encouraging us to talk to attendants who will then say “sorry, we’re out of space” seems a bit of a nonsense.
£15 fine? Don’t pay it. Tell the hospital that you received it because their contractor had not provided adequate space to park.
Oh, and it’s not a fine, it’s a penalty charge. Only legal courts can fine people, not car park providers who don’t provide space to park your car.
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When at the hospital and the car park has been full, we have been directed by the car park attendants to park on the grass.
Either some of them are nice or they have ‘encouraged’ the practice to ‘fine’ later.
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Its the same for people who work at the hospital who have to fork out £120 a year to park at work, yet no gurantee of a parking space in staff carparks, they then have to pay to park as per visitors or be fined or park on the verge and take the chance of a fine.
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staff and student nurses have to pay £45 (part time) or £90 (full time) a year for an annual staff parking permit, which is fine BUT 3 out 5 days we cannot find a staff parking space and therefore we are forced to pay £2 a day. This can work out any where between £4 and £6 a week which in time can mount up across the year or across a nurses career!
As well as costing alot, when it is wet and raining and cars are forced to park on grass verges, it just creates a big brown muddy mess and the grass is ruined, as well as being an eye sore.
This needs to stop and a system needs to be put in place, as well as the pot holes being fixed!
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I’ve never had problems at RSH (but I only go to hummingbird) I find PRH worse, after driving around for about 15 minutes and not finding a space I drove home phoned the hospital and told them I couldn’t find a space to park and got another appointment
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I’ve got an appointment at the hospital tomorrow afternoon and on reading this report I thought I’d check out the possibility of using the oxon park and ride. I was really surprised to find out it doesn’t seem to serve the hospital.
Would it be beyond the wit of hospital bosses to negotiate with arriva to get the route altered? It would increase passenger numbers for arriva and increase parking capacity at the hospital, potentially a win-win.
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Never had a problem getting a space but have had to wait a few minutes for a car to leave. Telford is always full, parking there is an utter nightmare.
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Just another stealth tax, dont pay it dear let them try and take you to court any good solicitor would have them tied up in the knots that should be hang the thieves.
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Thanks for the advice. I have already written to the company to say that I will not pay.
My appointment was an hour and a quarter later than scheduled so I sat in the waiting room for an hour and a half watching people coming in and seeing their anxiety at being unable to find a parking bay. Some were accompanying elderly people who they had to leave alone whilst they went off to try to park.
So many people will just pay the £15 as they are ill and don’t want additional hassle.
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Telford is fine, as they will allow you park anywhere as long as it is safe and not blocking any exits etc, so parking on the grass is ok.
Shrewsbury on the other hand, has a severe lack of parent and child spaces, or rather they are non existent, which means even IF i can park the car, I can not get my 7 month child out of the car for her consultant appointment at the hospital. Other hospitals though are the same – Selly Oak (QE hospital) and others, they are just as bad. Its just the times we live in. Moving services from shrewsbury/ Telford will not make the situation any better, most likely worse!
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Why should parents with children get priority at hospitals or in supermarkets? Your choice to have kids, park in the normal spaces if available. Fully support disabled spaces however. That said, the whole policy of hospitals charging to park is a levy on the sick and the worried relatives of the sick. If you are heading in to A&E the last thing you want to be thinking about is if you’ve got the right change. Car parking seems to be deliberately limited in workplaces to encourage use of public transport or car sharing – hardly appropriate for visitors to Shrewsbury hospital where adequate facilities should be provided, especially if services are transferring from Telford.
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Yes, this really worries me with the proposed move to Telford. How will PRH cope with increased maternity visitors and parents visiting sick children as well as all the children’s outpatient appointments? Considering these hospitals are serving a rural area it is a disgrace that they have so little parking provision and then stress their patients out by slapping fines on them! They seem to think their patients should ‘go green’ and find other forms of transport, it’s about time SATH lived in the real world and realised that most of their patients have to use their cars as there are no other options available (unless you want to spend all day on a bus).
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