"Beware the car park charge"

Thank you for taking the time to leave your comments.

Car park charges were introduced for staff and public at the Leicester Royal Infirmary in 1996. These had not increased since 2003. At the Leicester General and Glenfield Hospital car park charges for staff and public were introduced in 2007.

We were subsidising car park and travel operations by £310,000 and investing approximately a further £250,000 per annum on infrastructure. The August 2011 our Trust Board discussed an increase in the charges to be adopted at all three of our sites, based in principle on removing the subsidy currently paid for car parking/travel.

The Trust Board, however, took the view that the final payment mechanism would be subject to consideration of the outcomes of a public engagement process. This would allow a review of the issues raised during the engagement, and an opportunity to amend the proposals in light of the suggestions being made by staff, public and key stakeholders.

The engagement exercise took place between the 16th August 2011 and midnight 18th September 2011.

The engagement process allowed many issues to be communicated to the us in a structured manner. Valuable discussions have taken place at many meetings, with participants ensuring that firmly held points of view were heard. We welcomed these interactions.

There was a substantial degree of support for the principle of removing the subsidy. The debate therefore was not about whether parking charges should be increased, but how it should be done.

The new public model (see below) developed from public feedback was presented at the 6th October 2011 Trust board, the October board supported the new charges.

Drop off bays exist around the site that allow users to park up for 20 minutes, therefore should the visit be very short these can be used.

Patients receiving qualifying benefits can have their parking charges reimbursed (this is applies to external public car parks as well as the hospital car parks). There are various procedures in place which allow for leniency should a patient/visitor not pay enough and we no longer clamps vehicles.

We trust this fully answers your question about public car park charges and explains the need for the charges.

Public charges:

Time: Exit within 30 minutes

Tariff: No charge

Time: Up to 1 hour

Tariff: £1.50

Time: 1 to 2 hours

Tariff: £2.50

Time: 2 to 3 hours

Tariff: £3.00

Time:3 to 4 hours

Tariff: £4.00

Time: 4 to 8 hours

Tariff: £6.00

Time:8 to 12 hours

Tariff: £10.00

Time: 12 to 24 hours

Tariff: £12.00

Night Tariff (8pm -6am)

£2.00

Patient and Prime Carer Season Tickets

Daily: £5.50

Weekly: £15

Monthly: £50

Saver (Royal Infirmary Only)

£25 (for £50 of parking credit)

Thanks