Following a period of consultation with stakeholders, including staff and local residents, Trowbridge Community Hospital in Wiltshire has appointed parking management company, Creative Car Park, to help manage the use of its car park and prevent non-patients from taking advantage of the free-parking facilities.
This busy community hospital is situated in the town centre of Trowbridge within close proximity of a GP surgery, train station and local shops. Previously, the hospital had no enforcement or management on site, but recently, missed or late appointments have become a growing problem for the hospital as patients have found it increasingly difficult to park. Following further investigation, it emerged a high percentage of motorists using the car park were not patients, but simply making use of the car park whilst visiting the town for other purposes.
In a bid to manage this problem, but continue to provide free parking for patients visiting the hospital, ANPR cameras (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) have now been installed. Exemption touch-screens are present in all reception areas so that authorised visitors to the hospital can enter their registration number and park for free. Staff have also had their vehicles registered into a central database. The system will identify any vehicles that do not have either an exemption permit or staff e-permit as breaching the terms and conditions of the car park regulations.
Nigel Tobin, NHS Partnership Manager for Creative Car Park, comments “We will be working very closely with the Trust on all aspects of the system, including the appeals process, to ensure Parking Charge Notices are only issued where appropriate and that extenuating circumstances are identified and taken into consideration.”
This system will help to reduce the pressure on a very busy car park and maximise spaces for authorised users. “Feedback from patients and visitors have said the new system is already working, creating more spaces for legitimate users, which is very encouraging” added Mr Tobin.
CREATIVE CAR PARK:
Operates in more than 700 car parks nationwide include shopping centres, retail parks, railways and supermarkets
Major clients include Knight Frank, Jones Lang LaSalle, MJMapp, Morrisons, The co-operative, Royal London Insurance
