November 28, 2018 5.35 pm This story is over 76 months old

New hospital parking system angers Lincoln patients

They’re not impressed

A new automatic parking system at Lincoln County Hospital has been causing “frustration and anger” for patients.

United Lincolnshire Health Trust contracted ParkingEye to introduce a new automatic number plate recognition system, but they have run into some “teething problems.”

Patients have been waiting in queues of up to 20 people to pay for parking at the hospital, while workers attempt to fix broken machines.

Along with the new system’s problems, patients and staff are being forced to pay more to park at the hospital, up to 20p more per hour.

The new system has been the cause of much anger.

Michael Ormian told The Lincolnite that parking at the hospital has been “fairly traumatic.”

He said: “I couldn’t get the keys to work. It wouldn’t accept the numbers that I thought I was putting in.

“We didn’t know that we had to bring our registration number and lots of people turned up without theirs. So there has been a lot of anger and frustration.”

Hannah Derby added: “It was really full and I have just paid £4.20 for about an hour and a half. I feel like that’s quite a lot of money.

“One of the machines isn’t working. The other is very temperamental and won’t give out change. It’s not been a brilliant start.”

Workers have been busy trying to repair machines. Photo: Connor Creaghan for The Lincolnite

A ParkingEye spokesperson said: “With any new site installation we experience teething issues, we currently have a team of engineers on site working to ensure they are fully operational.”

Money from the machines for car parking will be retained by the trust and used to cover the cost of providing car parking and security at its hospitals.

A spokesperson for United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust also said: “The new ANPR car parking system at Lincoln and Pilgrim hospitals is now up and running in all public and staff car parks. We expect Grantham hospital to be online soon.

“We are in the process of removing the payment machines for the old system and these are currently covered over.

“The new machines will print receipts. It is one of the options you can select on the touch screen.”

Watch the full video to see what patients think of the new parking system.