Hospital staff fury as parking fees treble
A GYM addict who was run over by a truck has told how doctors believe his hard six-pack saved his life.
Muscly Jack Moore, 21, was dozing in a park with girlfriend Vicky Clarke when the tyres of the two-ton vehicle rolled across them.
Jack suffered horrendous internal injuries including broken ribs, a collapsed lung and liver damage.
But medics said the keep-fit fan – who turned to exercise and diet at 17 after hitting an obese 16st – could have been killed had it not been for his ripped washboard stomach.
Jack, whose six-pack was cut away to be replaced with an 8in scar and tyre treadmark, said: “The doctors told me I was lucky. I was very healthy and that was also a big factor in my recovery.”
Jack and Vicky, 19, had just cuddled down on the grass beside a river in Earlham Park, Norwich, and shut their eyes when horror struck in June 2017.
SCREAMED
The Toyota Hilux, which was going round emptying litter bins, went over both of them as onlookers screamed.
Jack recalled: “I opened my eyes and the truck was about a foot away. The front wheel crunched over my stomach.
“Then it drove over Vicky and started to reverse. I pulled myself out from underneath it and the pain kicked in.
“My body was really deformed, with my belly button pushed off to the left. I tried to scream but I couldn’t. People were telling me to stay conscious.”
Jack recovered after a spell in hospital but was left with some health problems and diagnosed with PTSD.
He still has flashbacks and is now being represented by personal injury specialist Slater and Gordon in a civil case. The truck operator was fined £195 for careless driving and sacked by facilities management company Norse.
A Norse spokesman said: “The Health and Safety Executive decided driver inattention was the principal cause of the accident.”
Vicky suffered broken vertebrae, a broken collarbone and fractured sternum as the truck rolled over her twice.
She was admitted to hospital alongside Jack but later released too. CAR park permits for a hospital’s staff are being almost trebled in price by a private company that has taken over the contract.
The increase under a “partnership” deal with outsourcing giant Capita has enraged employees at Colchester General Hospital.
The site is already one of the NHS’s most lucrative car parks. It raised more than £1.1million last year in parking fees, permits and fines – up £165,000 in 12 months.
News of the deal comes after the Sunday Mirror revealed last week that firms are continuing to profit from the NHS by being invited to bid for more hospital parking contracts worth £1.8billion.
Capita, with pre-tax profits of £80.5million in the half year to June, will take over its latest hospital contract next month. Permit prices, based on earnings, will increase from January.
Lowest-paid staff will be charged £5.93 a month, up from £2.07, while those on higher wages will see their £3.19 fee raised to £8.64.
Charges for outpatients and visitors will stay at their current level. Employees claim that their permits, though subsidised, do not guarantee a parking space. One said: “It seems we are being penalised when cars are often the only way of getting to work.”
A hospital spokeswoman said: “We aren’t introducing changes to make more money. All parking revenue goes back into patient care and managing car parks.”
A Capita spokesman said: “Our clients set the tariffs in their car parks and we manage them on their behalf.”