PARK & RAID

Hospitals rake in £5m a WEEK from car parks

- MATTHEW DAVIS

NHS hospitals raked in more than £5million every week last year from parking fees.

Patients and visitors forked out £192.3m while staff paid £79.1m for the privilege of parking at work.

Critics say making people pay to park near where they are being treated is effectively a tax on the sick.

Charities representing patients say it penalises people when they are at their most vulnerable and can deter others from travelling to hospital to visit their loved ones.

Unions point out that many hospitals are in remote places that are poorly served by public transport, particularly at unsocial hours when staff are starting or finishing a shift.

Some trusts charge visitors up to £5 per hour and staff more than £10 a day to park for the duration of an eight-hour shift.

The £192.3m figure is an 11% rise on the £173.1m the NHS received in the previous year.

The £79.1m from staff was a 13% increase on the £69.8m received this way in the year before.

Both figures are much higher than in some of the previous years when hospital visits were restricted because of Covid and free staff parking was temporarily introduced.