Over £200,000 in parking fines handed to drivers parking in side streets near Luton and Dunstable Hospital

More than £200,000 in parking fines has been collected by Luton Council in the last five years as a result of people parking on side streets near Luton & Dunstable Hospital.

The figures were obtained by specialist car group Motorfinity which issued Freedom of Information requests to councils responsible for issuing penalty charge notices (PCN) on roads surrounding hospitals in the years between 2018-2022.

In Luton those roads were Farrington Road, Lime Avenue, Lewsey Road, Dunstable Road and Calnwood Road.

Luton Council issued a total of 7,481 fines between 2018 and 2022, at the five nearest roads to Luton and Dunstable Hospital, totalling £206,000. It issued fines worth £46,223 in 2022 alone.

It is fifth highest in the list of councils that accumulated the most from parking fines over the five-year period.

In the last year, parking permits have been slowly re-introduced for NHS workers at trusts across the country, following the pausing of charges during the peak of the Covid pandemic – but the L&D says it has no plans to reintroduce charging for staff.

A spokesman for the hospital said: “Staff at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which includes the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, have not had to pay for parking since 2020. Currently, we do not have any immediate plans to make changes to these arrangements. As part of our Green Plan, we are also exploring alternative sustainable travel options for staff.”

A spokesman for Luton Council said: “Our parking enforcement teams perform an essential role to keep our roads clear and prevent congestion, deal with inconsiderate and dangerous parking and respond to complaints from local people about illegal parking causing nuisance or even threats to the safety of other road users. This is especially important near a significant medical facility which requires easy access for patients, visitors and emergency services at all times of the day and night.

“In addition to enforcing restrictions and parking hotspots across the road network seven days per week, we respond to in excess of 300 requests per month from residents who are experiencing parking issues in their local area such as blocked driveways, misuse of disabled parking facilities or other inconsiderate parking. We allocate considerable resources to ensure that we can use the parking enforcement powers available to us for the benefit of our residents and responsible road users.”