MP calls for free hospital car parking

Hemel Hempstead MP, Sir Mike Penning, has tabled a motion in Parliament calling on the Government to make all car parking free at hospitals in England and for the devolved administrations to do the same for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Sir Mike said: ‘We all use the NHS at some point in our lives and for many it is a very difficult time. Extortionate parking charges and complicated charging regimes are an added stress that we could all do without when attending or visiting hospital.

‘I also absolutely believe that parking should be free for all NHS staff. When I was a firefighter I never had to pay to park at the fire station and I do not believe doctors, nurses and other NHS staff should have to pay either.

‘The Government should set up a programme to address this and implement it across the NHS estate.’

The Motion (Early Day Motion 725) reads: ‘That this House believes that at this time when all parts of the United Kingdom have come together to fight COVID 19 and to support front line key workers when our country needs the NHS more than ever to be free at the point of delivery, Members of both Houses need to come together to support an end to car parking charges at NHS hospitals in England; recognises that the NHS was established to be free at the point of access; contends that extortionate car parking charges mean that the NHS is not free at the point of access for people with cars; further recognises that the charges are not only unfair for patients and their visitors but for hardworking NHS staff; realises that this is a clear injustice; and therefore urges the Government to scrap car parking charges at NHS hospitals in England and calls on all the devolved Administrations to do the same.’