Concerns over hospital parking charges for disabled drivers

Some hospitals are ignoring government guidelines by charging full parking prices to drivers with disabilities, the BBC has found.

A handful of the 20 hospital trusts which charged these drivers said a uniform charging structure was used.

The Department of Health said it expected price concessions to be given to disabled drivers.

BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme received 86 responses from trusts about their parking price policies.

It found the vast majority allowed drivers with disabilities to park for free, some others had concessions for people with disabilities, but some charged the same prices to all drivers.

'Vulnerable'

Among the drivers being charged was Duncan Lister, from Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, who cares for his wife and their daughter who uses a wheelchair.

"I am very concerned they actually charge people who are able bodied for parking in hospital car parks, it's almost like your taxing people for being ill, or needing medical treatment, but to charge disabled people is far worse in the sense that they have to probably go to hospital more frequently," he said.

Paula Sheriff, Labour MP for Dewsbury, said: "Of course we have to look for efficiencies, and the NHS clearly needs to evolve, but charging the most vulnerable in society is not the answer."

Kevin Oxley, of Mid-Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "The Trust is committed to providing good and fair access to its sites for all who use them. At the same time we need to ensure that we are operating facilities that are affordable in the long term and that front line services are protected in challenging economic times.

"The introduction of capped car parking charges for Blue Badge holders will enable us to invest in parking provision for this group of motorists across our three main hospital sites.

"This includes making sure that Blue Badge spaces are as accessible and as close to hospital entrances as possible, and policing the spaces more effectively to ensure that they are only accessed by genuine users. This issue has been discussed with the Trust's Access Group which includes patient representatives and representatives from local disability support groups."

Hospital trusts have freedom over their parking policies, however, in August last year, the Department of Health published guidance which said that concessions, including free or reduced charges or caps, should be available for people with disabilities.

"We expect all NHS organisations to provide car park charge concessions for disabled people, as outlined in updated guidelines," a NHS spokesman said.

Andrew Haldenby, from the think tank Reform, said that half of disabled people of working age were in work so it was questionable whether free parking was appropriate.

The Welsh Government announced in 2008 that hospital car parking in Wales would become free of change. Since 2011, all but four hospitals in Wales have stopped charging for parking. Those that require payment have been told to abolish charges once their contracts with private parking firms expire.

In Scotland, charges only remain at PFI hospitals where contracts are in place and the costs of altering them are prohibitive.

In Northern Ireland, free car parking is restricted to patients receiving radiotherapy or chemotherapy treatment, patients receiving renal dialysis, and next of kin visiting patients in critical care and high dependency units.