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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Caroline Wilson & Kirsty Feerick

Parking fees scrapped at Glasgow Royal Infirmary for medics during coronavirus crisis

Parking fees for medics will be scrapped at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary to help NHS staff during the Coronavirus pandemic.

A dedicated testing centre has been set up at the hospital, to test for the potentially deadly virus.

Under new rules introduced by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in the wake of the outbreak, medics will be allowed to use any parking space except those reserved for emergency vehicles or disabled parking.

The hospital is locked into a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) arrangement, which sees staff paying up to £20 a day to leave their vehicles in the multi-storey car park.

Charging for parking at NHS car parks in Scotland was scrapped in 2008 but car parks at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and Glasgow's Royal Infirmary require staff and visitors to pay.

A spokesman for APCOA Parking UK, which manages the car park, said it was in discussions with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde about scrapping the charges and said this could only be done if sanctioned by the health board.

A spokesman for NHSGGC said: "We have made it easier to park at work by temporarily relaxing parking restrictions on sites with managed car parking services.

"Staff can now use any available space that was previously designated for individual, visitor or shared car use.

"Disabled access and emergency spaces will remain restricted.

"The Glasgow Royal Infirmary is the only site where charges apply due to a long-standing contract.

"We continue to discuss how these can be lifted.

"In the meantime, we have obtained 200 additional spaces for staff to use for the next three months and local management will be looking to identify how these should be appropriately allocated.

"Glasgow City Council has also confirmed that parking charges in the vicinity of The Royal Infirmary will cease from Monday 23 March, as a part of short term measures in the current challenging circumstances.

"We have also received a very kind offer from the Glasgow Pram Centre who are providing spaces for GRI staff.

"We want to thank our staff for their efforts to continue to keep patients safe as we respond to COVID-19.

"We are here to support them as much as possible and are doing everything we can to make it easy to travel to work."

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