Car parking charges at Southend Hospital are to go up next month - but bosses say the money will improve parking capacity.
The new charges, which will come into practice from September 1, are the first rise since 2002 and are fixed until at least 2006.
The new scales of charges are: 0-2 hours £2 (from £1.50); 2-4 hours £2.50 (from £2); more than 4 hours £4 (from £3). A weekly ticket will cost £10 (from £7).
It is estimated nine out of ten drivers using the hospital car park will only have to pay 50p more.
Chief executive David Brackenbury said: "We recognise that trying to park on the hospital site can cause frustration to our patients and visitors and we are only raising the tariff so we can improve the hospital's car parking capacity for them.
"We will be investing more than £500,000 this year alone over the next two years to improve on-site parking and implement a range of measures to meet our travel plans."
Published Tuesday August 10, 2004
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