Patients and visitors have slammed the rise in car parking charges at Ninewells Hospital.
Car park operators Vinci Park raise the price of parking from £2 to £2.10 on Saturday November 1 and regular users of the car park have reacted with fury to the increase.
Jenny McMillan from Longforgan, whose son Blake suffers from the rare condition Mecp2 Duplication Syndrome and is a frequent visitor to Ninewells, said the rise in price is “ridiculous”.
She said: “We go through periods where we have a burst of visits. Blake’s appointments are every three or six months so there will be a lull and then times when we are there a lot.
“Two pounds isn’t a huge amount but when you are going up a lot it does add up. I gave up my job to nurse Blake and that money a could be better spent on him or on shopping.”
She added: “Obviously, NHS Tayside are stuck into that contract but it is frustrating people who care for people with ongoing problems.”
Courier readers also had their say on the charges.
Grant Moir said Vinci Park “must be very proud making money from health workers, relatives of the sick and especially the sick themselves”.
However, Graeme Dolan said: “People are just too lazy to walk or won’t use the bus. I live next to the hospital and when I wait on the bus into town in the morning I see people parking in the residents parking section as they have Menzieshill parking permits.”
Another commenter added: “The parking is controlled now by a financial mechanism, if the car parks are overflowing even with payment in place how would they control the amount of cars on the site.”
Steven Whyte said: “Vinci have the contract as they paid for the multi-storey car park that was so desperately needed. It was NHS Tayside that made the decision as it couldn’t finance it. The whole situation is a mess.”
The 2.5% rise in parking charges is the first increase at Ninewells since 2010.