Park and ride scheme for Kent and Canterbury Hospital

A park and ride service has been set up to help visitors avoid increased parking charges at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital.

Canterbury City Council worked with East Kent University Hospitals NHS to set up the service.

The council said the the scheme was proposed by the NHS after the health trust decided to increase the cost of on-site parking and staff permits.

The weekday bus service came into operation on Monday.

Councillor Mike Patterson said: "It is well known that parking at the hospital is limited and people may not want to pay the higher charges, so this offers an easy and cheaper alternative to parking on-site."

He said the council had found it had spare capacity at its New Dover Road park and ride site, so the service "made sense for everyone".

The 33-seat, low-floor buses run every 20 minutes between the park and ride site and the hospital between 0800 and 1800 from Monday to Friday.