Yesterday I made an intervention during a debate on Hospital Car Parking Charges. You can view the full debate here.
Steve Baker (Wycombe) (Con): I want to set in context what my hon. Friend has just said about the scale of these charges. I have just checked the cost of parking at Chiltern Railways’ new multi-storey car park in Wycombe, and it is only £7.50 a day. I say “only” because that seems quite good value given that some people are paying £500 a week for hospital parking. Does he share my amazement that hospitals manage to provide so little parking for so much expense?
Robert Halfon: My hon. Friend hits the nail on the head. As I have said, this has become an easy way for hospital bosses to raise money, and there has been no dialogue with the public about it.
As a frequent visitor of hospitals, having two members of the family with ongoing medical issues, I feel I have a lot of experience in this area. I find it constantly frustrating that we are left to wait for hours, sometimes the majority of a day, and then to rub salt into the wound are charged a fortune for the privilege! It’s not as if we wanted to have to leave the car there all day is it?