Car parking at most Welsh hospitals will be free from 1st April 2008

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Petition - To Scrap Hospital Parking Charges In England

Car parking at most Welsh hospitals will be free from 1st April 2008..

The Welsh Assembly Government's Health Minister Edwina Hart has confirmed the move, the first of its kind in the UK, which will see charges scrapped or reduced.

NHS trusts which do not have contracts with private companies are to stop charging patients, visitors and staff from April 1 - the same date free prescriptions started in Wales last year.

Those with private car parking contracts are to be told to reduce costs until the contracts expire.

Parking Appeals.co.uk which assists people hit with parking fines states:
"Charging people to park at hospitals is an indirect tax on healthcare.

"These days, the vast majority of people who attend hospital clinics do so by car, often several times during treatment and the costs mount up. It's iniquitous that they have to pay to access hospital care. Relatives and frontline health care workers are similarly penalised."

This petition is to the Prime Minister.

We the undersigned wish the Government to follow the lead of the Welsh Assembly and scrap hospital parking charges in England for the benefit of patients, relatives and health workers.
Signatures | Total: 323

 

# First NameLast NameComments
101 GregoryLauder-FrostIt is a simple fact that parking charges are just another indirect tax on the people of England. It is a scandal that patients and their families are effectively being taxed because they are are ill and their families too for wishing to visit them in hospital. Like it or not this is the age of the automobile and unless one is served by metropolitan public transport the chances are that you will require a car to get to hospital. Should you be taxed upon arrival?
102 EilaBannister
103 mallorywoberI'm not quite sure how one would prevent abuse of the space by those who park not for hospital purposes - to commute or shop - suggestions welcomed ...(there are lots of highly paid people within the government who spend their time thinking up absured and wicked schemes - let them think up something good for a change ...
104 AnonymousAnonymous
105 IanMaitland
106 PeterPartridgepay to park just prey on the sick
107 YvonnePartridge
108 AnonymousAnonymous
109 AnonymousAnonymousDear Prime Minister, Please scrap the Hospital parking charges in England. It is not fair. Kind regards, Shah Mallya
110 DelphineGray-FiskAbout time, too! Have always thought it iniquitous to charge for hospital car oarking
111 LeeConsterdineSometimes, it's as if some people think no one in England will notice what's going on elsewhere.
112 johnbroomfieldThis island is awash with money. Unfortunately it is nearly all going to the wrong people.
113 suzanneyagerthere should be free and adequate parking outside hospitals. Why should the sick be further penalised?
114 JosephFox
115 GerardBattenAs the UKIP MEP for London and the UKIP Candiadte for London Mayor (1st May 2008) I am delighted to sign this petition.
116 DonaldBeadleJust one example of how England is being unfairl governed by direct rule of UK Government
117 IanRobinsonThese parking charges fine people who are either themselves ill or visiting the sick.
118 BerniceMossAs a cancer patient I have found the cost of parking 3 times a week for up to 6 hours each time very hard. I am unable to work and also unable to get financial support for this.
119 AlexisHiraThese charges are nothing short of a national disgrace. A defrauding of sick people and health workers who treat them and pay taxes. The people who own and work for these car-parking firms tend to be dodgy, with many having criminal backgrounds. They are the lowest form of scum imaginable.
120 RogerKnightI'm sick of the way "public" service providers in England prey on the public and the fact that Wales and Scotland can legislate for themselves whereas we English have less favourable conditions imposed on us by a UK government which relies on Scots and Welsh MPs.
121 paulroomeson a recent visit to pick up my wife and newborn child at liverpool womens hospital it cost me two pound to park for 30 seconds.scandalous.this is a fixed amount for entering no matter how long you stay all in all it cost me 16 pound over 24 hours
122 MarkKeillerIt is Absolutely disgraceful that charges were ever imposed upon the people who officially paid for the hospitals and parking facilities anyway through taxes. this is just yet another hidden tax to raise revenue to pay for the excessive amount of "managers" that now appear to be needed in hospitals when they actually provide no stability what so ever.
123 MikeCunningham
124 JohnBroughIf Hospitals in Wales can afford to scrap these charges and the Government provide Free prescriptions from NHS, there should be parity across the UK.
125 AnthonyPurvis
126 JohnSeverne
127 AnonymousAnonymousIt should be the same throughout the country.
128 AlfredRothwellWhat do you pay your tax for?
129 DebiAni
130 RobertSouthgateThe sooner this disgraceful practice ceases the better. People visit hospitals for a reason and to penalise them by charging for parking is utterly wrong.
131 MichaelKnowlesTaking a person to hospital, visiting a person in hospital, working in a hospital, these are all part of the National Health Service, paid for out of taxation. It is vicious and it is wrong to make money out of illness. It is vicious and it is wrong to use the kindness and the illnesses of people to make money. And now that Wales has banned this vicious practice, why not England too? What sort of Union is the United Kingdom? why is it always the people of England whether it is prescriptions charges or university fees that are forced to pay? Under this government the coungtry has lost its way. I am ashamed.
132 AnonymousAnonymous
133 IanWellsWe only go to hoapital because we need medical attention, why should we be charged for parking when we pay into the NHS all our lives
134 SharonCloseagreed.
135 GerryRichards
136 RogerBloomer
137 RichardPaineIt's a disgrace to charge the sick and disabled for parking. This government has lost its moral compass.
138 GilesPepperellRemove this stealth tax on the unwell and their friends and family.
139 PeterHamptonBut ensure that only hospital visitors use it! A token system to get out would be advisable!
140 AnonymousAnonymousget rid of this and other stealth taxes!
141 ColinThurlowIt always has been disgraceful. A penalty for caring about someone that you visit.
142 DaveWhiteWhy is it that the Jocks and Taffs lead in these particular matters whilst the english get shafted?
143 RaymondPittWhy should I have to pay parking charges when other "Countries" within the UK do not. Utter disgrace.
144 RichardPaineFree parking is so important to the hard-up members of the community...
145 EmilyParkinsoni think it is unfair to make people pay beacauseif it is for exsample the people who work there they are being charged for for parking there and they work there.
146 EmilyParkinsoni think it is unfair to make people pay beacause if it is for exsample the people who work there they are being charged for parking there and they work there.
147 WarrenCanteloI regularly volunteer to take out-patients to my local hospital and am appalled at the lack of available space for volunteer drivers. Also it should not be necessary to charge patients who are in need of medical care to park and who have no idea how long their appointments will take, thus incurring penalty charges for over- staying their parking time.
148 robertbrockl think its outrageous taxing people visiting the sick
149 ChrisWardTaxing the sick, and those who work to help them, and those who visit them to comfort them, is inhuman.
150 AnonymousAnonymousAll parking should be free.

 

Signatures | Total: 323