13,000 parking tickets issued to motorists parking up at Staffordshire hospitals
Nearly 13,000 parking tickets have been handed out to visitors, staff and patients at two hospitals in Staffordshire – in just one year.
New figures show the University Hospital of the North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) issued 12,566 parking enforcement tickets at County Hospital in Stafford and Royal Stoke University Hospital during 2015/2016. With each fine costing £50, that would have made a total of £628,300 in just 12 months. The number of appeals at the two hospitals reached 460 with 195 of them approved.
A study found that UHNM issued the second highest number of parking tickets in the UK behind Barts Health NHS Trust.
According to research by YourParkingSpace.co.uk visitors were hit with £13.3 million in parking fines in the last year. The trust confirmed the figure was accurate but did not comment further.
Lorraine Whitehead, director of estates, facilities and PFI for the trust, said the trust's car parking policy was designed to provide patients with the best access to the hospital and income from car parking was reinvested back into direct patient care.
