Firm earns £1 million in two years from Shropshire hospital parking
A private firm has collected more than £1 million from Shropshire hospital patients, visitors and staff in the past two years, it has been revealed.
CP Plus operates the car parks at the Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal Hospitals, taking a share of income from charges to visitors.
A Freedom of Information request by the Shropshire Star has revealed more than £1.6 million was collected from hospital car parking in the last 12 months with more than £500,000 going to CP Plus on top of £534,000 the company received in 2011/12.
The firm kept almost one-third of the money paid out by people visiting the Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal Hospitals in 2012/13.
They received an income of £516,843, with the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust retaining £1,093,318.
The figures have been revealed in the same week the trust brought in new parking charges which will result in patients paying 75 per cent more for stays of more than five hours.
The trust said the money paid to CP Plus represented income, not profit.
"CP Plus are responsible for the management of the car parks on both sites and use the income they receive to pay for all running costs, including equipment and staff wages," it added.
Trust bosses also revealed parking income is expected to rise by between 10 and 20 per cent as a result of the new charges.
Figures for last year show more than £750,000 was collected from the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and more than £555,000 of income from the Princess Royal Hospital and staff paid more than £300,000 for parking their cars.
CP Plus has been operating the car parks since April 2005 with the deal running until 2019.
James Harrison, a spokesman for CP Plus, said the income it had made since 2005 from the hospitals was "private and confidential", but said the money goes towards providing a service to visitors with the company employing 11 staff across the two sites. It manages 350 car parks across the UK.
