Anger as nurses paying £20 a day to park at city hospital
A RISE in parking fees at a Glasgow hospital has sparked a furious reaction.
Charges at the PFI funded car park at Glasgow Royal Infirmary have risen to £1.70 per hour.
It follows a 10p increase in overnight charges from £1.50 to £1.60 per hour.
The fees mean nurses would pay up to £20-a-day to park during shift.
The increase sparked a furious reaction from nurses and members of the public online.
Scott Duffy, said: “No doctor or nurse should have to pay for parking. This country is sick.
“Do police pay for parking? Ambulances? Why should doctors and nurses who save lives daily pay to do that for us.”
Charging for parking at NHS car parks in Scotland was scrapped in 2008.
But staff and visitors at car parks at Glasgow’s Royal Infirmary, Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary are required to pay because they were funded by private finance initiative (PFI) projects.
On the Evening Times Facebook site, Margaret McGill, said: “The car park is a rip-off most visiting is for an hour yet they charge you £3.20 for an hour and 10 minutes. Nurses work 12-hour shifts are going to work or leaving in the dark.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “The Scottish Government has made it clear repeatedly that we would like charges abolished at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary car park, as we have done in NHS owned hospitals across Scotland, but unfortunately it is one of three car parks locked into long-term PFI contracts which precede this government.
“We have ensured through the funding mechanisms we use to deliver new projects that charging for hospital car parking is not permitted.
“Health boards are expected to work with their PFI contractors to ensure any charges are kept to a minimum and ensure that PFI contracts are kept under review to ensure best value for the public purse.”
A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “The purpose-built multi-storey car park at Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) is a PFI project owned by a private company and managed by Apcoa. As the car park is privately-owned we do not have any control over the tariffs the private company chooses to charge.”
Apcoa said it managed the car park but had no control over parking fee levels. The car park owners refused to comment.