Craigavon Hospital staff voice concern as free car park becomes 'staff pay car park'

Some said that staff cars had been parked recently in a public car park (Car Park 8) close to the Bluestone Unit when suddenly the barriers went up and it was no longer a free car park.

-

-

According to the Southern Trust, staff were provided with a dedicated parking area (Car Park 7) beside the Ambulance Headquarters. This is a paid for facility and staff, who wish, can pay £30 per month to use it. This facility at Car Park 7 has been moved to Car Park 8, making Car Park 7 a free to use car park and open to the public while Car Park 8 is now the dedicated staff car park.

One staff member said: “We never use to have to pay, but recently they have installed parking barriers in the car park opposite Bluestone. They didn’t put down the barriers for couple months then one night dropped the barriers whilst cars where parked in. Nothing said, no one knew why they where dropped or how much it would be.

"The word is that they are looking £60 a month now from staff to pay to park. It also states staff only on the barrier and no staff want to park in there as its simply too dear.

"So we are forced to park in other areas that are also full resorting on parking on kerbs and grass. Then a private parking enforcement comes and fines us. We cant go out on our break in case we cant get parked again.”

A Trust spokesperson said: “Car parking around our busy hospital sites is an ongoing challenge. With demand on our services continually increasing, we have huge traffic pressures on both car parking spaces and traffic flow.

"The Southern Trust continues to offer free parking for everyone, except for a limited number of staff who avail of voluntary paid parking and pay £30 per month for dedicated parking (60 spaces at Craigavon Area Hospital) and for those drivers who chose to park in one of the pay car parks.

“The only change to paid parking on the Craigavon Area Hospital site is a relocation of the staff voluntary pay car park. From November 1, the staff voluntary pay car park was relocated to an adjacent car park and the parking space created with this move is available for general use and is non-pay. Communication was issued to staff informing them of the change in advance of the switchover.

“We are continually exploring opportunities to improve car parking but are challenged by both space and financial constraints.

"We ask for the support of staff, patients and visitors in helping to make the best use of car parking around our sites.”