Region's hospitals fine drivers £27,000
Patients and visitors were fined £27,615 for poor parking at hospitals in the region in just 12 months.
Drivers faced a penalities lottery depending on which site they were visiting. A total of 3,084 motorists were slapped with tickets in the space of a year but the fines ranged from £15 in Dudley up to £30 in Walsall. Stafford Hospital did not issue a single fine for bad parking.
NHS bosses today said they had a duty to keep hospital grounds clear for ambulances and drivers who blocked entrances or parked in no-go areas caused serious problems.
But, while some hospitals got tough on drivers others had a more relaxed attitude.
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust emerged as the most zealous of the NHS trusts for ticketing – issuing 1,260 £30 fines in the financial year to April. Only 533 of those were actually paid.
Robert Wilson, facilities manager at the trust, said: "Car parking fines are only issued on our hospital site when absolutely necessary."
Stafford Hospital fined no-one but Aaron Cummins, finance director at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are in the final planning stages of being able to introduce civil penalty notices to control parking in restricted areas."
Fines at Sandwell, Rowley Regis and City Hospitals are £25, which double if not paid inside a fortnight. The trust issued 429 tickets in the year to April, making a combined £8,575. Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital made £3,050 from 727 fines.
Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital could only provide figures for 2011, when 668 motorists were fined £15.
Brian Childs, of cancer support group Upper GI Blues, said patients may be unfortunate to be fined as it was often an emergency.
Meanwhile, Birmingham's Heart of England Trust was today named the country's biggest earner from hospital parking charges, raking in more than £3 million in 2011/12.
