Hospital Car Parking

Nile

Insert by Martin: There has been a complaint that this practise detailed below is illegal.  Please check the terms and conditions of the ticket that you had over - if it is non-transferrable then it is fraudulent behaviour.  It is also worth noting whilst we mightn't like hospital car park fees, often it goes to help underfunded hospital admin.

If you need to park your car in a hospital car park, it may have ticket machines like my local hospital.  The minimum fee is £2.00 for 4 hours.

My tip is to look at all the ticket machines, someone may have stuck their ticket (with a couple of hours still on it) onto the machine..........take it and then you park for free.

Alternatively, wait for someone who is returning to their car.  Drive over to their bay, ask if they are leaving so that you can park in their space.  Usually, they offer you their ticket (with a couple of hours still on it) and you park for free.  This ploy is also a good way of getting a space in an overcrowded car park.

Remember to pass your ticket onto someone else as you leave to spread the goodwill and leave you with a warm feeling inside........even if you didn't pay for the ticket. ;D

lee__48

My local hospital charges £3 for 5 hours, but you have to enter part of your number plate on the ticket machine which makes the ticket non-transferable. Very annoying when you only need to stay 10 minutes to collect someone >:(

Lee

System

If you're visiting hospital, to be honest scrutinizing ticket machines is probably going to be the last thing on your mind!!

As for passing your still valid ticket onto someone else upon leaving a car-park, I do this as a matter of course and have often had them passed to me also.

Nile

If you ever have to visit a family member in Intensive Care, ask the hospital nursing staff if they'll issue you with a temporary parking permit for the family.

We used this type of permit (for free parking) for the duration the father-in-law was in ITU. The permit was dated and had our car registration printed on it.

Certain other hospital departments will issue free parking permits or car park refunds. I think chemotherapy patients and haematology patients are some examples. It's worth asking.

Nile

Daffy, as a skin flint money saver..........it's always on my mind to save a few pounds.

I take your point that it may be the last thing on your mind (if you're visiting a patient for example).......but if you have to visit the hospital for regular treatment as a patient, you could get hacked off at the charges.

I dislike having to pay £2.00 to park in the puddles and rubble that is jokingly called a hospital car park, especially when I don't need 4 hours parking time anyway.

kahunahen

Had to use a hospital car park this week to take someone to the A&E dept. at 8pm.

They issued tickets at the barrier on entry which required payment at a car park machine located in the hospital on leaving.

After 4 hours at the A&E, I went to the main hospital to pay only to find the doors locked. Could not pay for my parking ticket. Feared that my car would be stuck there all night. Informed a security guard via intercom who told me he'd let me out once I got to the barrier and pushed the intercom button.

So I managed to get free parking on this occasion. However, it surely makes more sense to have the payment machines located on the car park or in the A&E where they can be easily accessed.

klondyke

Don't know about other hospitals, but when a close relative was in Kingston hospital, was offered a slip to put on the windscreen. Worth asking ...

spangle

It is difficult having to pay for hospital parking - I know.
But if you are in receipt of benefits - income support, working tax credit etc you are able to get a refund. Try taking your ticket to the General Office within the hopspital for reimbursement.
Additionally, if you have to visit certain areas/ wards within the hospital then you may find there is either a special reduced price or the fee is waved altogether.
This tends to be applicable for ITU, childrens wards or for people visiting relatives who are terminally ill.
If there are other circumstances you can always write to the chief executive of the hospital.
I would not recommend trying to play the system and not buying a ticket, I know at the hospital where I work the security men go around clamping cars who do not display a valid ticket or park where they shouldn't. You could end up paying much more to have a wheel clamp removed.
Even staff working within the hospital have to pay for their parking permits.

jozshi

On the topic of hospital car parking, i had to add a note on my experience in our hospital car park this week...

Now as I work at the hospital, I have a parking permit and therefore do not have to pay for a ticket. But as I walked towards the entrance on Monday, I was approached by a Chinese woman asking if I had £1.20. She was just walking back from the machine, so I assumed she didnt have the right change. I kindly got out my purse and fished around for change and between us we put in the required £1.20. At which point the woman promptly returned to her car!! So I contributed 60p to this woman's ticket!

I initially thought she must be short of money, but I then watched her return to her Ford StreetKa! >:(

Now I'm just waiting to see myself on some sort of candid camera show on telly. :-[

So beware!!!

VelvetGlove

Things like that are enough to make people just say 'no, sorry' without even checking! How rude or then again what an amazing money saver she was! Still abit naughty to trick someone like that.

rach

My tip is to look at all the ticket machines, someone may have stuck their ticket (with a couple of hours still on it) onto the machine..........take it and then you park for free.

Alternatively, wait for someone who is returning to their car.  Drive over to their bay, ask if they are leaving so that you can park in their space.  Usually, they offer you their ticket (with a couple of hours still on it) and you park for free.  This ploy is also a good way of getting a space in an overcrowded car park.

Remember to pass your ticket onto someone else as you leave to spread the goodwill and leave you with a warm feeling inside........even if you didn't pay for the ticket. ;D

someone i know recently got into trouble for doing this - apparantely tickets are non-transferable and therefore its illegal! what is the world coming to???

obviously wouldn't work in an emergency but i park in tescos carpark next door and walk round if i have to visit someone...also leaves you with much more chance of getting a space!