‘UNNECESSARY stress’ is being placed on users of Warwick Hospital’s car parks due to ‘inefficient’ ticket machines.
Those driving loved ones to appointments and visiting have hit out at how often the machines were not working at the Lakin Road site. The service is contracted out by South Warwickshire Foundation Trust (SWFT) which runs the hospital.
Disgruntled driver Julie Johnson contacted the Observer to say she recently took a 90-year-old man to an appointment and found all four ticket machines in the main car park broken. She then had to go the porter’s lodge to pay and get a ticket.
She said: “None of the machines in the machines were accepting either car park tickets or money. The inefficiency is unbelievable. The NHS is paying a supplier to provide them with broken machines.
“I was transporting an elderly man who would have had difficulty accessing the machines on the other side of the car park had he been alone. People attending hospital can already be stressed, upset, unwell, elderly people or in wheelchair. It’s an unnecessary stress due to incompetence.”
Julie says the hospital should scrap its contract with the current providers if they cannot get the machines working properly.
She said: “It’s not like it’s a one off, the machines have been like this for several years.
“Sometimes you cannot pay by card, sometimes there is no change given and sometimes they won’t even read your car park ticket to enable you to pay.
“The pantomime season is over, it needs sorting now.”
SWFT said it was looking at making improvements this year.
A spokeswoman told the Observer: “We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused.
“The trust recognises the current car parking equipment is old and often fails. A dedicated user group has been established and we have been looking at alternatives with the aim of implementing an upgraded, modernised system this year.”
