North East hospital patients caught by outdated parking charges

Visitors to North East hospitals are being caught out by out of date parking charges.

Research by the RAC found in the Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, South Tees and County Durham and Darlington trusts, NO hospitals allowed payment by card, while only 50% of South Tees and County Durham hospitals allowed you to pay on exit.

This means we’re forced to carry loose change and guess how long we’ll be staying for,

The RAC collected data under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) from 164 out of 206 hospital trusts in England, of whom 125 charged for parking.

Some 38% (47 trusts) had no option to pay by credit or debit card at any of their sites, while 32% (40 trusts) do not allow drivers to pay on exit.

Only a third of trusts allowed people to pay by card at all their hospital sites. A further quarter had the facility at some of their sites.

RAC spokesman Simon Williams said:

*“Anyone arriving at hospital, be they a patient or visitor, have far more important things to worry about than paying for parking.

“It is for that very reason that things should be made as stress-free as possible - and that includes taking the pain out of paying to park.

“These figures show that in many cases it is still too difficult for people to pay to park when they make a visit to a hospital in England, with drivers still expected to carry pocketfuls of change in order to park legally.

“This is despite the advent first of credit and debit card payments, and now contactless and mobile payment technology.''*

He said the new #1 coin would mean many machines need to be upgraded, which “provides a good opportunity for a wider range of payment options to be made available to drivers''.

Mr Williams added: “In the absence of free parking at hospitals in England, we believe parking should be made as stress-free as possible for people.''

Hospital parking in Wales and Scotland is largely free but patients in England are still forced to pay.