Leeds hospital tops car parking list after issuing 10,000 parking fines

Leeds General Infirmary issued 10,330 fines, generating 142,000, during 2008-9, according to the study from consumer group Which?.

The group found that nationally NHS patients and their families were the victims of wheel clamping, fines and over-the-top costs in hospital car parks. Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust in Surrey clamping 1,671 cars in 12 months, making 1.85m profit.

Which? collected data from 126 trusts and hospitals in England after writing to 172 organisations using the Freedom of Information Act. Hospital car parking is free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The results revealed Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust in Hertfordshire had the highest minimum charge in England – 4 for two hours of parking – while the Royal Derby Hospital received the most complaints, 82.

The study also named its top 10 best car parks which included the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, representing Dewsbury and District Hospital, Pinderfields General Hospital and Pontefract General Hospital.

Craig Richardson, of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said they rejected "any suggestion" that having a high number of fines implied their car parks were badly managed.

"In fact we think the opposite is true, " he said.

"It is important that we effectively police our car parks to ensure that spaces remain available for patients, visitors and staff, not those wishing to park for other reasons.

"Overall the trust has over 5,000 car parking spaces with over 1.6 million vehicles on site each year, and the figures about the volume of parking change notices we issue should be seen in that context.

"Leeds General Infirmary in particular is in a city centre location where all parking space is at a premium. This makes the car park attractive to non-hospital users, and over half of our annual penalty charge notices are issued on this one site."

Mr Richardson also claimed the trust does not make a profit on car parking, but aimed to cover the costs of providing and running their facilities to avoid the car parks being subsidised by money from the patient care budget.

In September last year, former Health Secretary Andy Burnham announced that hospital car parking charges for in-patients, their families and friends would be scrapped within three years in England.

The coalition Government has no plans to carry this through and a spokeswoman for the Department of Health said the issue was still being looked at.

She added: "We can't be in favour of decentralisation and greater autonomy for NHS and then tell them how to run their car parking.

"But it's clear that, where parking charges are making it difficult for staff to do their jobs properly, where they are damaging patients access to services, or where they are stopping friends and relatives from visiting - they are too high, and hospital trusts have a responsibility to look at those factors."

Which? said the best NHS hospital car park was the Royal United Hospital Bath.

The group's chief executive, Peter Vicary-Smith, said: "Royal United Hospital Bath shows that not every hospital visit needs to end in a parking nightmare.

"Visiting hospital is stressful enough without having to worry about being clamped or getting a ticket."