Hospital parkers driving residents round the bend

Tony Smith says people parking in the residential areas near Castle Hill Hospital has got worse since parking charges were increased at the hospital site

People living near a hospital say they are fed up with staff and visitors parking "inconsiderately".

They claim even emergency vehicles sometimes struggle to gain access to the streets near Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham, East Yorkshire, due to people parking on both sides of the roads with driveways also often blocked.

Residents have said the problem had been "exacerbated" in the past two months after parking charges were almost doubled at the hospital site.

A spokesperson for NHS Humber Health Partnership, which runs the hospital, said the changes to parking charges were enabling them to "cover the rising costs of maintenance, lighting and security services".

Tony Smith, 74, has lived near the hospital for the past six years and said: "They are inconsiderate in the way they park; they'll just abandon them [vehicles].

"People have been blocked in their own drives. It's bumper to bumper and they'll park on pavements so anybody with a wheelchair or pram have problems.

"They just abandon their cars because it's cheaper than parking across at the hospital."

Parking restrictions and double yellow lines have been enforced in some areas near the hospital, but not where Mr Smith lives.

He said the problem had "increased dramatically" now that parking charges have risen at the hospital.

He said: "I would say we are getting 50% more than we were getting before.

"People are just cruising looking for parking slots and the problem we have got is that it is staff the majority of the time that work there all day, so they are parking at 8am up until 5pm.

"People are getting so fed up of it."

A row of cars parked down a residential street close to Castle Hill Hospital

Mary Gregersen, 73, who also lives nearby, said the situation in the week was a stark contrast to the "quiet leafy avenue" on a weekend, when less people are trying to get parked at the hospital.

She said: "The issue for me is the bus route. The bus has dreadful problems getting up and down the avenues sometimes.

"If anybody double parks, there's no way the buses can get down. I've seen occasions where neighbours have been running around trying to find who owns the car on the other side of the road.

"When we bought our bungalow, one of the big things for us, as we go into our old age, was the bus route and my concern is that we will lose that if the bus continues to have problems."

Mary Gregersen says buses struggle to get down her street during the day when the parking is at its worst

Councillor Phillip Redshaw, who represents Cottingham North, said the problem needed sorting.

"We need to be ensuring that all hospital staff can have a parking place. If not at the hospital, there's another NHS site within walking distance that we could look at getting further places there.

"I've also been trying to persuade the council to look at painting bars across driveways and also looking at time-limited parking."

The parking increases came into effect at the hospital on 1 September and are the first since 2016.

The NHS Humber Health Partnership said it had a total of 1,861 parking spaces for patients, visitors and staff at its Castle Hill site.

A spokesperson added: "We encourage our staff to use sustainable travel options where possible - both to reduce the demand for parking on our sites and to help reduce our carbon footprint.

"As part of this, our staff are able to travel free of charge on a number of routes serving both Castle Hill and Hull Royal Infirmary and are also able to take advantage of discounted Smart Commute Cards, which can be used on services within the Hull City Council boundary, Anlaby, Cottingham, Hessle, Kirk Ella, Willerby, Wawne and even Barton-upon-Humber."

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