January 9, 2020 12.10 pm This story is over 58 months old

Boston hospital parking machines break down, day after Lincoln system fixed

The parking system was recently fixed in Lincoln

Visitors and patients at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston are unable to pay for parking after the ParkingEye machines suffered more problems.

The payment machines at Boston went down on Wednesday, January 8. United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust said recent local power cuts were the cause and they were trying to resolve the issues.

No charges or fines will be issued until they’re back up and running.

It happened just a day after problems at the Lincoln County Hospital car park, also run by ParkingEye, were resolved. A fault with the system meant people were able to park in Lincoln free of charge for days. The last machines were switched back on on January 7.

Ian Hayden, Facilities Manager at ULHT, said: “Car parking payment machines at Pilgrim hospital are currently not working, due to residual issues following power cuts in the area that occurred yesterday (January 8).

“We are working to get them back up and running. Notices are currently in place on the payment machines at the hospital, and will be removed when the system is back in operation.”

United Lincolnshire Health Trust contracted ParkingEye to introduce a new automatic number plate recognition system at Lincoln, Grantham and Boston Hospitals in November 2018, but it started to cause “frustration and anger” for patients.

Parking charges were previously suspended in December 2018 for people visiting Boston, Lincoln and Grantham until the following month as technical issues affected the then new ParkingEye system.