Villagers fed up of 'aggressive' hospital parking

Charlotte Kelly says motorists have blocked the entrance to homes

Villagers who live near a hospital say they are plagued by inconsiderate parking.

They claim bin lorries and even ambulances have struggled to navigate bottlenecks in the streets around Castle Hill Hospital, in Cottingham, near Hull.

One resident, Charlotte Kelly, said: "It's got threatening, it's got quite aggressive, and people are worried."

A spokesperson for NHS Humber Health Partnership, which runs the hospital, said more people were travelling to the site "than we have spaces for", but it was routinely reviewing its car parks to provide "the best service we can".

"I couldn't care less who parks here, it's how they park," said Ms Kelly.

"We've had ambulances not being able to come down. The bin men have had to sack off the delivery."

Ros Jump, a parish councillor, said she had lived with the issue for 16 years.

"They just dump their cars and go. It's causing ongoing grief for a lot of people," she added.

The concerns have been raised as East Riding of Yorkshire Council reviews the results of a parking survey for the area, which received more than 400 responses.

The results are expected to give "a fuller picture of residents’ needs" and "what steps can be taken", the council said.

Councillor Phil Redshaw said potential solutions could include double yellow lines, timed parking restrictions and residents' permits.

Residents say bin collections are sometimes abandoned due to parked cars

The spokesperson for NHS Humber Health Partnership said a new parking area for patients and visitors had been opened. Additional spaces had been created for staff.

“We are very fortunate to have a bus route around the hospital site, with four bus stops," the spokesperson added.

“This helps to reduce the pressure on our car parks and local roads.”

Councillor Redshaw said the hospital had been proactive in encouraging staff out of their cars, with "around 160,000 staff journeys" made by bus last year.

However, he warned changes to timetables risked putting brakes on the progress.

East Yorkshire Buses said it had increased the frequency of early evening services and was putting on more daytime buses from parts of Hull.

In addition, "long-standing reliability issues" had been addressed through a restructuring of services between Beverley and Hessle.

The firm was aware of concerns around the retiming of buses and said issues would be resolved "as quickly as possible".

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