HOSPITAL staff are furious at a hike in car parking charges at Cumbria’s main hospitals.

A raft of changes to parking, including a rise in prices, are being introduced at Whitehaven’s West Cumberland Hospital and Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary.

From next month, staff parking permits across both sites will rise from £9 per month to £14 per month. Next year it will increase to £18.

But some Whitehaven staff have hit out at the North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the sites.

A concerned member of staff from the Whitehaven hospital said workers were “unhappy and very angry” about the price hike.

She claimed staff were not consulted about the rise in charges.

Those most affected by the changes would be bank workers, domestic staff and part-timers on low wages, she said.

“A lot of people have already cancelled their passes for Whitehaven because they can’t afford them,” she said.

Staff who don’t have permits would be expected to pay £1 per hour for parking, she claimed. This would be particularly costly if staff worked a 12-hour shift.

She said some workers are now planning to park on surrounding streets to avoid the parking charges.

A spokesman for North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust said: “There will be a price increase for staff which brings the trust in line with the cheapest local authority permit. There has not been an increase for some time in the trust and it is required to allow for the significant investment being made to improve car parking capacity.”

“We will not be issuing any further staff parking permits at the Cumberland Infirmary in the short term and staff will be placed on a waiting list. The trust will monitor the situation closely and release as many as we are able to in order to keep the site safe.”

“Staff at West Cumberland Hospital can still be issued with a parking permit as extra capacity has already been provided there at Sneckyeat Road.”

In respect of staff paying £1 per hour to park, the spokesman said this would only be applicable “if staff choose to park in the pay and display car park”.