Evening Telegraph (First Edition)

Cost to buy out parking contract ‘less than £1m’

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THE cost of withdrawin­g from the contentiou­s Ninewells Hospital parking contract could be as little as £800,000, a former adviser to the Scottish Government has claimed.

Richard Marsh said the bill for buying out Saba Park Services – which took over Indigo Parking Service’s UK assets in December – would be “easily less than £1 million”.

The prediction appears to contradict previous claims from the Scottish Government that it would cost tens of millions of pounds to end PFI deals signed by its Labourled predecesso­rs.

The former Scottish Government struck a 30-year contract with Indigo Parking for Ninewells, which is not due to end until 2028.

The SNP administra­tion abolished hospital parking charges across the country in 2008, but the deals at Dundee and at two hospitals in Glasgow and Edinburgh mean staff and visitors must still pay to park.

There have been numerous calls to tear up the contract, and the Tele also ran a campaign to freeze the fees last year, but the government has repeatedly claimed it would be too expensive and blamed Labour for tying its hands.

Mr Marsh said the fact that the deal has just 10 years until it expires means the buy-out cost would be considerab­ly lower than it was a decade ago when then health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said it would take “tens of millions of pounds” to terminate all three agreements.

His calculatio­ns are based on paperwork from 2017 filed with Companies House.

Mr Marsh said: “Assuming around 80% occupancy over 360 days for the 1,472 public spaces, then income over 10 years at £2.40 a day would be around £10m.

“But that’s gross income, not operating profit. The Saba accounts show that overall profits are around 6% of turnover, so at Ninewells they might make around £600,000 profits after tax over the remaining term.”

He said a third of that figure may have to be added to account for 496 dedicated staff spaces.

Mr Marsh added: “You could make an argument that the lease could easily be bought for less than £1m and, I would argue, is eminently affordable for the government if it so chose.”

 ??  ?? A Ninewells parking machine.
A Ninewells parking machine.

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