WARRINGTON Hospital made close to £1m from car parking tickets last year, the Warrington Guardian can reveal.

In 2008/09 the total made from parking fees at Warrington and Halton hospitals was £867,895, more than £200,000 more than the previous year and around £575,000 more than the first year it has records for – 2004/05.

The figures were revealed after a request under the Freedom of Information Act by the Warrington Guardian.

More car parking spaces account for much of the revenue increase, as there are 350 more spaces now than in 2004/05.

Further money comes from staff members, who have been charged to park since October 2007.

Their fees account for approximately £196,000 a year.

The decision to charge staff was badly received, with just 23 workers voting in favour of the charges and 2,082 against them when balloted in February 2007.

A source at the hospital said the level of animosity towards parking fees had not fallen since their introduction.

At the time bosses defended the charges, saying the extra revenue would help pull the hospital from the red.

The hospital has since been making a surplus on its annual budgets.

In 2006 hospital bosses hiked up parking charges by 50 per cent and made £84,903 more that year than the previous year.

The money made from the fees pays for car park staffing, signs and consumables and the remainder is used in the hospital’s general budgets.

The figures, which relate to both Warrington and Halton hospitals, also showed that since parking fines were introduced, in 2007, 560 people have been ticketed.

The parking situation at Warrington Hospital has been well documented, with patients and visitors often struggling to find a space.

Residential streets around the hospital became permit only spots last summer following a six-year campaign to stop the multitude of cars that routinely parked there.

Since the introduction of a single-storey car park at the rear of the hospital site the troubles have eased, but there were still 16 complaints over the facilities last year.

Since 2004/05 there have been 73 complaints.

A spokesman for the hospital said that more than £1.2m was spent on providing extra spaces last year and added that parking consessions were available.

“Money from car parking charges is primarily used to fund the running of car parks and transport services across the hospitals with the remainder being used in the general hospital fund for running services.

“We try and set tariffs that are fair as possible to staff, visitors and patients when compared to other hospitals,” the spokesman said.

It currently costs £2 to park for up to two hours, and £2.50 to park all day.

In Wales and Scotland it is free for staff, visitors and patients to park at hospitals.

Health unions in England are currently in negotiations to have that situation mirrored here.