Forum Topic

New hazard for Ealing motorists -  Avoid Springbridge Road MSCP

Be very wary of parking in the Council's Springbridge Road car park.  I got a parking ticket last week for parking in the new private car park the council has designated for the local NHS CCG inside the car park itself.  There are 20 poorly signed bays on the 5th floor for the exclusive use of the NHS CCG.  They park a row of shiny new BMWs and Mercs up there.  The blue floor treatment is exactly the same as the rest of the car park so it is not very obvious that this is a separate private car park.  The shiny new BMWs and Mercs carry no special badges so that offers no clue to the unwary.  My offence was "85 Parked without clearly displaying a valid permit where required".  Well as it happens none of the CCG vehicles were displaying any kind of permit either.  I paid for my ticket and went off into town.  It is how you use town centre car parks.  You do not expect to have to negotiate additional restrictions inside.  The day I got done I was one of 5 people with tickets in the same 20 space area.  The next day I popped back and another 2 cars had tickets.  Clearly this new feature of the car park is trappy.  And the parking people will surely know this from their stats.  It is pretty bent.  Town centre car parking is a rare commodity and I am not aware of the council doing any public consultation on whether the public should lose 20 spaces to one organisation.  Why can't the high panjandrums of the NHS CCG take their chances with parking like everyone else?  Anyway pay and display car parks are hazardous enough without introducing new traps inside them.  Avoid Springbridge Road MSCP.

Phil Taylor ● 2810d10 Comments

Thanks for the warning.  This isn't the first public car park that has suddenly stopped being available to the public.

Philippa Bond ● 2803d

PCT =  Primary Care TrustAll this re-branding is a ridiculous waste of OUR money and just seems to cause confusion and obfuscation making it harder for people to find and get the care they need.

Philippa Bond ● 2807d

So sorry,CCG = Clinical Commissioning Group. Every borough has one hence Ealing CCG. They replaced the PCT (sorry I don't know what that stands for). Many employees collected a big redundancy from their local PCT and then took up post the very next day doing roughly the same job on more money with the CCG. With it the proportion of money spent within the NHS on admin has increased. Those expensive parking slots don't heal the sick eh?

Arthur Breens ● 2808d

I think what he means Arthur is what does CCG stand for?I'm guessing Community Care Group. But who are they exactly? and if not the right title what is is please?I've never heard of the NHS CCG and assume that unless involved with NHS issues, nor will any one else.I don't like all these abbreviations. Basic rule of reporting is to use the full title first and then use the abbreviations thereafter.It does help

Mark Kehoe ● 2809d

Graham, Please see this as a helpful comment not as a criticism. Ealing CCG controls the budgets that fund our health services in Ealing. They are the " local doctors" who under the Health and Social Care Act take care of local health service provision. Sounds good except many of the voting board are not doctors. The CCG seem unable to understand "capacity" in terms of ability to carry out operations in hospitals. They propose to close Ealing and Charing Cross Hospital operation facilities and cut 500 beds in North west London. They can't understand that patients have to wait much longer to be seen in our A&Es because they have closed two locally. The data is clear and yet they hold on to their dogmatic position that all is well.This extravagant parking plan says it all.

Arthur Breens ● 2809d

What in the NHS is NHS CCG?

Graham Weeks ● 2809d

This raises more problems Phil. The council are often telling us (and with anti-car policies)that it is unhealthy to use our cars and there they are the Ealing CCG, the people in charge of our health in Ealing booking 20 parking spaces. Both organisations look compromised. Phil any of those cars you saw diesel fuelled? I though any new business in Ealing had to have a green travel plan. Perhaps the plan for the CCG is to have to use the stairs at the beginning and end of the day??

Arthur Breens ● 2809d

Thanks for the warning, Phil. Appreciated.

Tony Heath ● 2810d

I have appealed for myself.  I am worried that rather a lot of people will have been done who shouldn't have.  The general principle that the council should do a sweetheart deal with the CCG to steal 20 precious town centre car park spaces really stinks.  And what other organisation could get the council to use statutory powers to enforce their private property rights?  Yuck. I suspect that at the bottom of all this there is a £20K "saving" and an embarrassing contract that shames both parties that we will never see.

Phil Taylor ● 2810d

Definitely a case of checking and then appealing. Insufficient signage? The high number of tickets indicate that there is a problem.

Peter Chadburn ● 2810d