Patients charged to park in Royal Lancaster Infirmary car parks once again

Parking at hospital and community sites across Lancashire and south Cumbria had been free of charge for patients, visitors and staff working for the NHS since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March.

However, with services reopening and more people returning to University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) sites, the car parks are becoming increasingly busy and so UHMBT has taken the decision to reinstate car parking charges for patients and visitors.

These changes came into effect on November 30.

Parking for staff, including volunteers, at NHS hospital sites in Lancashire and south Cumbria remains free until further notice.

Staff who have been parking in visitor spaces at the RLI have been requested to stop doing so, but they can continue to park free on Lancaster City Council car parks if they display the national Covid-19 NHS badge in their windscreen (available from the general office in Medical Unit 1 at the RLI).

A UHMBT spokesman said: "We are extremely grateful to our partners who have worked with us to enable us to offer this support for the last few months.

"We hope that it has made things slightly easier and safer for everyone who has needed to come onto the sites run by UHMBT.

"We are also hugely grateful to staff for helping to make sure that car parks have been safe for NHS staff to use."

Blue Badge permit holders can continue to park for free at UHMBT sites, provided they use the allocated spaces for people with disabilities.

For details of the parking charges, click here