Cost of parking at Blackpool Victorial Hospital rockets

The new charges are:

- £2.50 for up to two hours, up from £1.40;

- £3 for between two and three hours, up from £1.90;

- £4 for between three and six hours, up from £2.30; and

- £6 for between six and 24 hours, up from £5.50.

A spokesman for Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are very proud of the excellent car parking facilities we offer, following the opening of the £11 million multi-storey car park in 2014.

“Patients and visitors are able to park and access the hospital with ease and without the added stress of having to wait for a car parking space.”

Funding for the new car park, which provided around 1,000 extra spaces and solved a long-standing problem with parking, was borrowed from the Department of Health.

When plans were originally unveiled by the hospital in 2012, hospital bosses said the cash would be repaid using income from car parking.

They also said the boost in facilities would help attract top doctors.

Concessions currently on offer are:

- Reduced parking, £3 per day, for parents of a child in hospital for the first two weeks of their stay, and free afterwards;

- Free parking for haematology or ontology patients undergoing regular treatment or attending appointments;

- Free parking for a carer or relative of a patient who has been in hospital for more than two weeks;

- Free parking for disabled drivers if they are parking in a designated disabled parking bay; and

- Patients on benefits, who may be able to claim expenses through the NHS Healthcare Travel Costs scheme.

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