The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Ninewells parking firm to increase charges
Move by Indigo Parking a ‘slap in the face’ to hospital staff, claims North East MSP
Patients, visitors and staff at Ninewells Hospital will be hit with increased parking charges in 2018, it has been revealed.
Indigo Parking, which runs the car parks at the Dundee site, will increase the staff annual permit from £416.40 to £436.80 and the monthly permit from £34.70 to £36.40.
The daily and short stay charges will both rise from £2.20 to £2.30.
The move, which will take effect from January 24, has been condemned by Bill Bowman, Conservative MSP for the North East.
He said: “Any increase in parking charges at Ninewells is a miserly way to start 2018.
“Visitors and staff members on limited incomes are already held captive by an agreement the Government has done nothing to renegotiate.
“This will also be a slap in the face for hard-working employees who rely on a car and have no other option but to pay a yearly hike.
“They also risk fines and court appearances if unavoidably detained on duty.”
Ninewells is one of only three hospitals in Scotland where people still have to pay to park.
The Scottish Government scrapped charges elsewhere in 2008 but said lengthy private finance initiative contracts at the Dundee site, as well as at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and Glasgow Royal Infirmary, were too costly to buy out.
Three Ninewells nurses were ordered to pay more than £4,000 in parking fines to Indigo in September.
An Indigo Parking spokesperson said: “This planned increase is stipulated in our contract with NHS Tayside Board and is based on RPI (retail price index) increases.”