Best practice parking

The British Parking Association (BPA) revealed its Hospital Parking Charter at its annual Autumn Seminar in Birmingham in October. The proposed guidelines are designed to help NHS Trusts engage parking management systems that are fair for all.
    
As I have previously discussed in this publication, this area of hospital parking management is a hot topic, and the debate has heightened in recent months. Many of us are aware of the pros and cons of both free and charged for hospital parking. I have also spoken many times before of the misconceptions surrounding the reason behind parking enforcement at hospitals.
    
NHS Trusts are faced with balancing the need for parking with the cost of maintenance and management. The Trusts have a responsibility to ensure spaces are available for people who need them without inconveniencing those that use them.

The way forward
We believe that a Charter is the way forward – guidelines that will help Trusts take control of their parking facilities, addressing their individual needs, and help the operators to deliver effective and efficient parking for users. Overall the Charter should encourage best practice across the country.
    
The main focus of the Charter is to ensure a high standard of management and customer service is achieved in hospital car parks across the country. There is no one solution to fit all, as the needs vary from hospital to hospital and area to area. We are committed to making sure our members provide high standards of maintenance, lighting, simple-to-use and understand payment equipment, clear and easy to understand signage and clearly marked parking bays. This should be no different in hospital car parks and, through this Charter, we are calling for all operators to ensure hospital car parks provide a safe environment for all users.
    
The debate on whether to charge or not to charge is a tricky one. On the one hand it would be ideal to have free car parks available at hospitals. However, we have witnessed many incidents of this leading to unauthorised ‘park and rides’ and patients/visitors are left without any parking facilities when they need them most.

Tariff structures
What we are calling for is reasonable tariffs and tariff structures. The decisions on what works best for each hospital facility should be agreed in consultation with users and user groups, and set on the basis of need, supply and demand and the actual costs of providing the parking service.
    
All pricing structures should also reflect local conditions, local tariffs and the needs of all legitimate hospital users, and may therefore need to address parking abuse by drivers who do not have any business at the hospital. By assessing each situation individually hospitals and Trusts can make informed, fair decisions about their parking management.
    
As a member organisation we are committed to best practice and we want to help any hospital create practices which work and help Trusts ensure transparency in finances associated with parking management. Therefore we are urging Trusts and operators of hospital car parks to use us as a resource.
    
The proposed Charter also requests consideration for the many different users of hospital car parks, from long-term patients and visitors (e.g. oncology, dialysis, parents visiting children) to the ad-hoc nature of visits to hospitals. Policies and tariff structures should therefore minimise unreasonable enforcement actions to reflect this unique parking usage and address the needs of visitors and patients separately from that of staff.

Approved parking operators
We believe that in order to ensure ‘cowboy’ operators do not operate any hospital car parks in the UK, all Trusts should insist anyone carrying out parking management should be a member of an approved scheme and adhere to a Code of Practice, which is the essence of our Approved Operator Scheme.
    
There are many ways that hospital parking can be made easier for all involved, and we feel having an agreed Charter will help Trusts make the best decisions for their patients, visitors and staff.
    
The Charter is currently under consultation and we have cast the net wide, canvassing views and opinions of all involved and affected by hospital parking from NHS Trusts to patient groups. Through consultation the BPA will refine the guidelines, creating a robust document which will help guide hospital parking management in the future.
    
We envisage the approved Hospital Parking Charter will be available early next year and we will issue it to all NHS Trusts.

Proposed Hospital Parking Charter

• NHS Trusts and their car parking contractors will strive to provide a high standard of management and customer service in their car parks.
• They will aim to provide good lighting, high standards of maintenance for structures and surfaces, simple-to-use and understand payment equipment, clear and easy to understand signage and clearly marked parking bays. Operators should strive to ensure car parks provide a safe environment for all users.
• Tariffs and tariff structures will be reasonable, will be set in consultation with users and will be set on the basis of need, supply and demand and the actual costs of providing the service. Tariff structures should be set to reflect local conditions, local tariffs and the needs of all legitimate hospital users and may therefore need to address parking abuse by drivers who do not have any business at the hospital.
• Consideration should be given to best practice advice available from organisations like the BPA. In particular, costs and income associated with running car parks should be transparent and published in the Trust’s annual report.
• Consideration should be given to the special needs of long-term patients and visitors (e.g. oncology, dialysis, parents visiting children). Long-term in this context is defined as a need to visit the hospital for seven days or more within a 30 day period.
• Methods of car park operations should be designed to recognise the casual nature of visits to hospitals and policies and tariff structures should therefore minimise unreasonable enforcement actions. Policies should address the needs of visitors and patients separately from that of staff, where different circumstances may apply.
• Enforcement is to be proportionate, with a focus on encouraging compliance. Such enforcement activities must adhere to the Approved Operator Scheme Code of Practice and Operators must be members of the Approved Operator Scheme in order to manage hospital car parks. 
• This Charter should be read in conjunction with the Approved Operator Scheme Code of Practice, particularly in respect of signage, customer redress and levels of charges.

About the BPA
The British Parking Association (BPA), founded in 1968, is the largest independent professional association in Europe, representing 650 member organisations in the parking and traffic management industry. Members range from technology manufacturers and car park operators to local authorities and theme parks. 
   
The BPA is dedicated to promoting and representing knowledge and standards in every type of parking facility, both on-street and off-street, and to bringing together the interests of government, local authorities and commercial organisations, providing a forum for the exchange of information and ideas concerning parking.