Cars parked near hospital threatened with clamping (From Worcester News)

Cars parked near hospital threatened with clamping

11:30am Tuesday 9th February 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(2)

NOTICES warning drivers that they could be clamped have been slapped on cars parked at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

The bright yellow notices were placed on cars for the first time yesterday.

The cars were parked in Charles Hastings Way, where it used to be free to park, but where pay and display machines have now been installed.

A spokesman for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said the road had mainly been used by staff in the past and the new measures were aimed at increasing parking places for patients.

She said staff would have to find alternative parking, such as the park-and-ride scheme at Sixways, or pay.

It is not clear when the clamping will start.

The spokesman said: “As part of our efforts to provide more parking for patients and visitors, we have released further pay and display spaces. New signs have been put up on the site to inform visitors where these changes have taken place.

“We will obviously allow a period of time for these arrangements to settle in and for people to become familiar with the new parking layout in areas other than the designated visitor car parks.

“We are pleased that a number of patients have already commented on how much easier it has been to park for their appointments or to visit family members.”

As previously reported in your Worcester News, many hospital staff received letters on Tuesday, January 19, telling them they could no longer park at the hospital. Instead, the hospital is paying £55,000 a year for them to use 200 park-and-ride spaces, near junction six of the M5.

The aim is to free up the 1,200 parking spaces at the Worcester hospital for patients and visitors.

Staff on early or late shifts or at weekends can still park on the hospital site.

But the move has not been popular with all staff, who said it would add travel time on to their day and could affect their personal safety.