Hospital staff parking fees revised in Scarborough, Bridlington and York after criticism

Earlier this year, it was announced that charges would return in Scarborough, York and Bridlington on June 12 after they were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bosses at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust previously defended the decision after funding was withdrawn in April last year.

However, the parking fees will now depend on how far staff live from work, it has been announced.

The trust’s chief executive Simon Morritt said some staff would now be eligible to apply for a parking permit, at a meeting of its board on Wednesday.

“Car parking is so important to the staff in this organisation and it is the issue that clogs the inbox of senior leaders,” he said.

“We have also introduced an extenuating circumstances panel because there are always individual cases.”

The chair of the board, Alan Downey, told The Scarborough News that staff living more than two miles from Scarborough Hospital, one mile from Bridlington Hospital, and five miles from York Hospital will be eligible to apply for a permit.

The planned reintroduction of parking charges has been widely criticised by members of the public, councillors and staff, some of whom have said they already feel “undervalued” and that public transport is not an option for many of them.

A petition against the fees launched last month has so far gathered almost 1,000 signatures.

Mr Morritt said the decision to revise the plan came after “a number of discussions with groups of staff”, including in Scarborough.

He added: “It’s only a few months since I reintroduced the chief executive staff surgery and I had a delegation of about 35 staff in Scarborough, all wanting to talk about the parking.”