Anger as St Richard's Hospital parking fee nearly doubles

A member of staff at St Richard's Hospital says he's '˜incensed' that he will soon have to pay almost double to park for work.
The parking changes at St Richard's Hospital will be from April 2The parking changes at St Richard's Hospital will be from April 2
The parking changes at St Richard's Hospital will be from April 2

The fee for parking in the Chichester hospital visitor car parks is jumping from £6 to £11.20 for eight hours and over.

From April 2, parking for up to three hours is also rising to ££4.30 and up to five hours £8, though hour-long parking is going down by 30p.

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It means staff working five days a week will have to pay £224 a month to park there all-day, ‘wiping out’ their upcoming pay rise, a Chichester resident has said.

The member of staff, who did not want to be named, said: “At the moment I pay £6 to park there for the day but, according to a notice in the hospital it’s going to cost me £11.20 which seems a massive increase.

“I was absolutely incensed when I saw the sign and when I went on to the St Richard’s website there was no mention of it, just the old prices.

“I have to park in the car park because there’s a long waiting list for the staff car park and parking near the hospital is restricted to only one hour.”

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The notice in the hospital states the new fees ‘will help ensure our limited parking is only used by patients or visitors’ with the current rates ‘encouraging visitors to the city centre to park at the hospital’.

Western Sussex Hospitals Trust raised £2,049,168 in 2016-17 from its three car parks at St Richard’s, Worthing and Southlands hospitals, a 25 per cent rise in three years, a Freedom of Information request showed.

Chichester resident Joseph Harm said: “St Richards Hospital is about to wipe out the new pay rise for staff by more than doubling car parking charges,

“It will taking parking charges for most staff to around £200 per month.”

Western Sussex has been approached for comment.

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