A PREGNANT woman has called for better traffic easing measures in Worcestershire Royal Hospital (WRH) car park after she was stuck there for over an hour.

Hannah Archer said she was trapped in the car park on Charles Hastings Way, Worcester, following a maternity appointment last Monday evening.

Mrs Archer, 30, was driven to the hospital by her sister Lucy and having left her 20-minute appointment at 4.50pm, they were stuck in gridlock until after 6pm.

“We did not initially move out of our parking space for 30 minutes; nothing was moving,” said Mrs Archway, who is 25 weeks pregnant with her first child.

“There is just not enough exits out of the hospital site with the offices trying to get out too.

“What would happen if it was an emergency, or you needed to get out for child care?”

Mrs Archer, from Warndon Villages, said the bus drivers, who pick up and drop off in the car park, only made matters worse because they “weren’t giving way” which resulted in “gridlocked” traffic.

“I stood in front of a bus to stop it moving out, just to try and let people pass them because they weren’t giving way at all. But they aren’t the only issue.”

She said cars were moving up to the area which ambulances use to get in and out of the car park, meaning they were completely blocked in too.

One ambulance crew member apparently told Mrs Archer, who has maternity appointments at varying times at the hospital, that it is like that most afternoons.

“Surely, I can’t be the first person to have raised this issue?” she said.

“I wonder if Worcester Hospital have thought of a traffic light system to ease congestion on the site?”

A spokesperson for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We are aware that, particularly at peak times, the traffic congestion on the WRH site does increase. This is, in part, determined by the amount of traffic on the main roads adjoining the site and outside of our control.

“Visitors can play their part in reducing traffic congestion by planning visits outside of peak times where they can, although we recognise that this won’t always be possible.”

Sarah East, head of operations for First Worcester, which operates buses from the car park, said: “I can understand the frustrations visitors to the hospital have to incur with congestion around the site.”

“It affects the reliability of our bus services on a daily basis.

“One way to reduce the impact of congestion at the site is if people consider using the bus if they work at the hospital or when attending appointments and visiting friends and family.

To give people an example of how using the bus can have a positive impact on reducing congestion, for every 20 people that use the bus for a journey to the hospital, could take up to 10 cars off the road.”

West Midlands Ambulance Service did not wish to comment on the issue when approached by the Worcester News.