Some patients at Lincoln County Hospital are frustrated, claiming people are using the temporarily free car park as a ‘Park & Ride’ for a day out in the city.
As previously reported, parking for patients and visitors at the hospital is currently free after a technical glitch with the new ParkingEye system installed in November.
However, ULHT said machines are expected to be fixed by the end of the month.
“Makes my blood boil”
People have reported that the car park has been overflowing since payment systems were halted. Some confronted those parking and leaving the site to be told they were using it as a ‘park and ride’.
Tracy Phillips was affected by the parking fiasco when she went to the hospital recently with her son, who has a valid blue parking badge.
She told The Lincolnite: “While waiting at the disabled parking bays near the entrance for a space to become available.
“I saw a couple walking to the disabled car park with High Street store shopping bags, the lady had a walking stick.
“As they started to put the shopping in their car and prepared to drive away I asked them if they had left their car there, using up a disabled space and taken a bus into town?
“At first they wouldn’t reply, but when I asked again they laughingly answered, to my incredulity, that while it was free parking at the hospital they used it as a ‘park and ride’ into town and, as they had a blue badge, were perfectly entitled to park there.
“There aren’t nearly enough blue badge spaces at the hospital as it is and selfish behaviour like this makes my blood boil.”
Don’t park for a day out
Cancer patient Marie Butler told The Lincolnite: “I have secondary breast cancer stage four in my liver, so I am up at county a lot. Parking at the moment is a nightmare as, as you know it is free.
“I had an appointment at the breast unit on Wednesday and just could not get parked. I then tried the main car parks, including physio, but there were still no spaces so I had to park on Curle Avenue for an hour.
“The thought that people are parking there for any reason other than genuine appointments is disgusting.
“Obviously we are not the only people struggling to get parked for very important appointments. The thought that others are using LCH car park as a freebie for leisure purposes, or anything other than what it should be used for is truly thoughtless.”
The new system has been the cause of much anger. Photo: Connor Creaghan for The Lincolnite
There is free parking at Lincoln County Hospital until January due to technical issues with the new system. Photo: Avril Page
Parking issues
ParkingEye took over the parking facilities in late November at Lincoln, Grantham and Boston hospitals, but faced issues with ANPR cameras and the payment machines.
People were confused about the system which required them to remember their full registration numbers, with queues forming as machines failed at all three sites in early December.
Initially parking charges were meant to return at Lincoln on January 7, but this was delayed further.
Reporters contacted ULHT for a response and the trust said it was still aiming to have this issue resolved by the end of January.
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A pair of anti-vaxxers have decided to temporarily stop sharing conspiracy theories on Facebook and stage a protest at a roundabout in Lincoln instead.
The duo were spotted on the Riseholme roundabout on the A15 on Friday afternoon, armed with misinformation signs that appear to suggest England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty has an “evil agenda”.
The protest signs appeared to be against child vaccinations, which suggests that the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation were against young people being jabbed, despite a statement in July saying the Pfizer dose had been authorised for use in people aged 12 and over.
They seem to be at loggerheads with Lincolnshire’s own Jonathan Van-Tam, none other than England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, who urged people this week to “trust professionals, not Instagram” as fake propaganda posted on social media is being attributed to vaccine hesitancy.
Another sign held up spouts rhetoric about heart problems from the COVID-19 vaccine, while a third notice shows children with masks on and reads: “Is this the future we want for our kids?”
For reference, in case you cannot make it to the Lincolnshire Showground for your vaccination, there will be a free shuttle bus service to take you to and from the jab site starting next week. Read more here.
Up to 86% of adults in Lincolnshire are double-jabbed, and over 25% of 12-15-year-olds.
A special lights show celebrating Lincolnshire’s plants will take place at Boultham Park on Saturday.
The Lincspirational Lightshow will start at 5.30pm on October 23 after the original event was postponed earlier this month due to the weather forecast.
The free show is the final of event of Lincolnshire Wildlife Trusts’ LoveLincsPlants project.
The evening will feature a lightshow parade, artwork projects, park illuminations and music inspired by nature from Sinfonia Viva. During the event the 30 artworks created by the public will be projected onto a large screen.
There will also be an opportunity to bid on the 130 artworks submitted as part of the exhibition. They will be available via an online action, with the 30 winning pieces starting at £40.
The evening will feature a lightshow parade, artwork projects, park illuminations, and more. | Photo: Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust
The money raised from the sale of the artworks will help fund nature’s recovery in Lincolnshire. It will also help the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust create wildflower rich habitats across the county.
Lincolnshire County Council’s Labour Group will call on the Conservative-led authority to rethink its policy of turning off street lights in built-up areas overnight.
The present situation, introduced in 2016, means that most street lights in Lincolnshire are turned off at midnight, as the council said in March this year that lighting has “no impact” on night-time crime levels.
This statement came after a petition signed by over 5,000 people demanded that street lights were kept on overnight following the death of Sarah Everard in London this year.
The response to Sarah Everard’s death was one of concern for women’s safety, to which the council responded by saying “women’s safety is about much more than street lights.”
A memorial for Sarah Everard in Lincoln on university campus. | Photo: The Lincolnite
More than half of Lincolnshire’s street lights were turned off in 2016 as the council looked to save £1.7 million, and despite the petition and concerns raised, just one parish council asked for lights to be switched back on in 12 months, according to the county’s highways chief.
Now Kev Clarke, Labour County Councillor for Boultham Division in Lincoln and member of Lincolnshire County Council Highways Scrutiny Committee, will be raising the issue at the next meeting on Monday, October 25.
He will be calling for a review of LCC’s street lighting policy, and asking for the council to consider the possibility of keeping the lights on overnight.
Councillor Clarke argues: “After recent sad events – attacks on females – a lot of people feel unsafe and anxious when walking home at night when the county is plunged into darkness at midnight.
“Lincoln is being promoted as a university city with young people leaving home for the first time and moving to Lincoln to study here and gain a first class education. Wonder if the parents were told that lights go off, if so they may look at other locations for their children.
“To boost our local economy we want to attract visitors to Lincoln to visit not only as day–trippers, but to stay over for longer periods to enjoy the benefits of the city and county – one of which is not the turning off of the lights.
“Labour County Councillors are not alone in this plea to Lincolnshire County Council to review the current street lighting policy particularly in Lincoln before it’s too late. Students at the University of Lincoln also want to see changes to the current policy.”
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