A DRIVING instructor was forced to cancel lessons with students after getting stuck in a hospital car park for half an hour.

Darren Richardson, who has been a driving instructor for 22 years, said the parking at Worcestershire Royal Hospital 'is just awful.' 

Mr Richardson from Lrn2Drive said he has got stuck in standstill traffic at the hospital on multiple occasions and believes that the car park is not fit for purpose. 

However, hospital bosses say that the trust is working with parking experts to resolve the situation. 

Mr Richardson, 56, said: "I wouldn't be amazed if someone had a baby or died in the car park because the driver can't find parking. 

"People are milling about in the car park, waiting for people to leave. 

"That's fine, last time I was up there, I asked a few people walking in the car park if they were leaving and no one was. 

"But people will block the entire car park to wait for a free parking space. 

"I got stuck there for half an hour just at the top of Newtown Road before it goes into Canterbury Road. 

 

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"The traffic doesn't move and then it just goes. 

"I had to cancel a driving lesson because of it. 

"This car park is just not big enough, it is just awful.

"I don't go up there often, it was only when I entered the queue that I realised my mistake but it was too late to turn back."

"I was dropping a student at the hospital on Wednesday (September 21) and then I had another lesson at 5pm. 

"I always leave half an hour between each lesson so I had 30 minutes to get there.  

Mr Richardson said it took him half an hour to get off the car park, so he ended up cancelling the next lesson.

 

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"If you go there between 4.30pm and 5pm you will be stuck up there for half an hour every time - it's not a one-off."

Matthew Hopkins, Chief Executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: "We are aware that the current parking provision in place across our hospitals is not sufficient and recognise the difficulties and anxieties that this causes for our patients, staff and visitors, particularly at peak times.

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"We are committed to resolving these issues as quickly as possible and providing access to safe and convenient car parking for those using our services. 

"We are enlisting the help of parking specialists who are experts in their field, and who will work with us to ensure that we can further increase our car parking capacity across our sites and improve parking arrangements in order to sufficiently meet the needs and improve the experience of those who use our car parks now and into the future. 

"While this significant piece of work is underway we’ve taken a number of steps to reduce congestion and ease the parking pressures, including the increased use of telephone and video appointments, which are more convenient for patients and reduce the number of vehicles coming onto our sites.”