Trust raked in £5m in parking fees

A BIRMINGHAM hospital trust took the second highest parking revenue in England, an investigation found.

The University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust collected £5,876,000 from parking in 2018-19, it revealed.

Only Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust collected more at £6,352,676, the study by the PA news agency showed.

It revealed that one in three hospitals in England put up the cost of parking last year, with patients and visitors objecting to the “exorbitant”

prices. Nationally, hospitals made more than £254 million from parking last year, as patients and visitors said they felt ripped off.

Overall, 47 NHS trusts increased their charges between 2017-18 and 2018-19, typically by 10 per cent.

The survey revealed that patients and visitors often struggle to find spaces, experience a lack of disabled parking, long queues and parking meters that do not work.

Overall, 86 per cent of those polled said parking added to the stress of a hospital visit.

One patient said: “The car parks are so busy that from 16.30 until 17.30 it can take nearly one hour to leave the hospital”, while another said: “I spent over £102 to visit my wife.”

Others described the charges as “a rip-off”, “too expensive”, “extortionate”, “astronomical” and “exorbitant”.

In the PA investigation, 49 per cent of people said nobody should have to pay for parking at hospitals.

Some 46 per cent thought visitors should have to pay, 12 per cent said patients and eight per cent said hospital staff.