November 23, 2018 10.31 am This story is over 64 months old

Parking charges spike at Lincolnshire hospitals

Here’s how much more it will cost to park

Car parking charges at the Lincoln, Boston and Grantham hospitals went up on Friday.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust introduced a new automatic number plate system contracted from ParkingEye to coincide with the increased fees.

Those parking at the hospital will see an average increase of around 10p per hour. See the table below for all increases.

ULHT said the increase is due to financial strains.

The change in parking charges. Photo: United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

Paul Boocock, director of estates at ULHT, said: “The trust is currently experiencing significant financial pressures. Therefore, we have taken the difficult decision to increase parking charges at our hospital sites.

“The cost of maintaining car parks continues to rise, so the decision to raise the prices was taken so we do not have to compromise or reduce investment in patient services.

“The increases are minimal and in line with local government rate rises, and still remain competitive and lower than most other NHS trusts in the region.

“We are committed to providing the very best care possible and hope our patients and visitors understand the reasoning behind these prices increases.”

Increased charges will come as unwelcome news to unions, which branded it as a scandal when they revealed how NHS staff had paid over £800,000 to park last year.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (ULHT) made £845,703 from charges and penalty fees by NHS staff using parking across its sites.

That was in addition to the £1.785 million made from visitor and patient parking across Lincolnshire.