Julian Knight, local NHS campaigner and Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Solihull, has hailed a “significant victory” in his quest for fairer hospital parking charges at Solihull and Heartlands hospital.
Under pressure from to ensure fairer parking charges from Mr Knight and the government, the Heart of England Trust has agreed to double the amount of free time they will give visitors to their hospital sites. This brings the total time visitors can stay for free up to thirty minutes.
In a statement, the Trust said that the move was introduced in response "to feedback from our patients and visitors"
Mr Knight welcomed the decision, but added that more concessions would be needed from hospital managers for hospital parking to be truly fair:
“It is good that the Trust has listened at last over the ridiculously short free waiting periods that they had in place. Fifteen minutes was barely enough time to drive through the barriers and find a parking space never mind conduct their business at the hospital."
"However, although this is a significant victory for my campaign it is only the start. We must strive to get proper discounts in place for those receiving treatment or vising loved ones. It is plain wrong that a pensioner undergoing 20 or so chemotherapy treatments should have to pay £5.75 each time to go to the hospital without free parking options being made clearly and openly available to them”.
Julian has already met with senior managers at the hospital and secured huge support throughout Solihull for his fairer parking charges campaign.
"I urge everyone to join me in this. I am sure if we put enough pressure on the managers at the trust we can secure a better deal over parking."