Petition Vs Inflexible Hospital Parking

11.12.50am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 7th Apr 2006

Inflexible Hospital Parking

On Wednesday 5th April George Koowaree, KCC Member for Ashford East, handed over a petition with over 1,000 signatures to Juliet Apps, Car Park and Access Manager, for the East Kent Hospital Trust.

The petition requests that visitors to the William Harvey Hospital should have the choice of parking for up to an hour with reasonable and flexible charges, instead of the current rigid arrangement of a minimum 3 hours stay for a charge of £1.70.

George said, " People who prefer to 'pop in' twice a day, rather than opt for a single longer visit, are paying nearly £24.00 a week in car parking charges. Visits from friends and family can be extremely beneficial to patients, perhaps even assisting with their recovery. The Trust needs to recognise this with a more flexible approach to car parking arrangements which take account of customer needs."

George has asked the East Kent Hospital Trust Board to provide details of the amount of revenue raised by the parking fees and how much of that revenue is spent on Patient Services.