Patients visiting central London hospitals…

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

Patients visiting London hospitals are forced to pay parking fees as much as £6 an hour, according to new figures.

Those attending St Bartholomew’s and University College hospitals have to pay the top fee to leave a car near the hospital while those visiting St Mary’s or the Heart Hospital are paying £5 an hour for parking.

Macmillan Cancer Support has campaigned for the past three years for charges to be ended for patients.
Helen Rainbow, policy officer at the charity, said: “High parking charges are a huge burden to cancer patients who have to attend hospital regularly, and at a time when they are on a reduced income. It is time this is acknowledged and that they were given more help.”

The figures come as the coalition Government abandoned plans by Labour to ban the charges by 2013, bringing England in line with Scotland and Wales, where hospital patients and their relatives park for nothing.

Overall, trusts across the country rake in more than £110 million a year from parking on their sites, with some earning well over £1 million a year.

Source: thisislondon.co.uk