Parking fines to be introduced across hospital trust car parks

Previously, motorists who parked at any of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust’s sites, including the Jessop Wing maternity unit, the Northern General Hospital and the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, had to pay and display.

And although those who failed to buy a ticket, or who overstayed, were threatened with clamping, this rarely occurred, and parking fines were never issued.

From Monday, October 1, however, all those who fail to display a valid ticket will be issued with a fine for £60, to be reduced to £30 if paid within two weeks.

A spokesman for the hospital trust said yesterday: “From October 1, visitors to the city’s adult hospitals will no longer be clamped if they ignore hospital car parking rules.

“However Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has been forced to introduce a ticket fine instead to deter the small minority of people who block emergency ambulance access, abuse disabled bays or who fail to pay for parking.”

Neil Thompson, manager for hotel services at the hospital trust, added: “The majority of people who visit our hospitals park appropriately and therefore will not need to worry about receiving a fine.

“However there are some people who simply choose not to park responsibly, don’t pay and in some cases even block access for emergency vehicles.

“Therefore, some means of enforcement to ensure the safe running of the hospital sites is essential.

“Instead of clamping cars, there will be a £60 fine which if it is paid within 14 days will be reduced to £30.

“We will also have an appeal process in place with an independent arbitrator if needed, because we do understand that there may be some circumstances where visitors or patients may make a genuine mistake or a degree of sensitivity is appropriate.”

He added: “Signs will be put up before October 1 in all the hospital car parks to provide information about the changes.

“Monies from any fines will be reinvested back into NHS care within the city.”

The car parks affected by the change include those at the Northern General Hospital, the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Weston Park Hospital and the Jessop Wing.

Rather than managing the car parks itself, the hospital trust uses Excel Parking Services, a private parking firm which issues “parking charge notices” that differ to the “penalty charge notices” that are issued by local authorities or the police.

The new stance on parking taken in Sheffield is far stricter than that at other hospital trusts around the region, many of which do not issue fines at all.

In neighbouring Barnsley, hospital car parks are managed by the hospital’s own security team, and parking fines are rarely issued.

Parking fines are also not issued at Rotherham Hospital.

A spokesman for Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Trust said that it “does not have a private company to manage our car parks”, and “we do not issue penalty notices, clamp or remove vehicles from our sites.”

At Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, the car parks are also managed “in-house.”

Although the trust does issue parking fines, the charge is reduced to £20 if paid within 14 days, and cars are never clamped.

A spokesman said: “We have a full two-stage appeals process and do try and be as fair as possible to people with genuine reasons why they have contravened parking regulations due to special circumstances. We do cancel tickets in such cases.”

In Calderdale and Huddersfield, meanwhile, a barrier system is used which means motorists have to pay before exiting the car park.

As a result there is no call for either fines or clamping.