SOUTHEND and Basildon hospitals raised million of pounds from car parking charges - including hundreds of thousands of pounds from staff parking fees.

Now, campaigners have called for charges for staff to be scrapped after data revealed that £1.6million was made from car parking charges at the Mid and South Essex Hospital Trust last year.

Specifically, Basildon and Thurrock Hospital Foundation Trust made £2.7million through parking.

At the Mid and South Essex Trust, £155,422 was raked in through charging staff to park, compared to £733,738 at the Basildon and Thurrock Trust.

But bosses have assured that the money made is ploughed into hospital services.

A spokesperson said: “For much of last year, staff across our hospital sites have had access to free parking throughout the pandemic. This is something which is continuing until further notice across Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust.

“Income from our staff and patient parking charges is reinvested into the running and maintenance of our car parks, with any surplus going towards the running of the trust.”

Figures reveal that patients and visitors paid an average hourly rate of £1.03 at the most expensive of the trust’s two sites, while staff dug out 4p per hour at the priciest spot.

Outraged, a spokesperson for Save Southend NHS said: “Staff should not be paying to park to come to work on a hospital site. It should be free.

“Most work anti-social hours, and so there’s a complete lack of public transport to cope with people who do shift work.

“Our key workers have had to be on the frontline through this whole pandemic, and although car parking charges for staff have been shelved, I’m sure after the pandemic it will return back to normal.

“Being charged on top of having to pay annual costs like union fees and that sort of thing is just an insult. It really doesn’t help with the retention of staff either in an already understaffed field.”

Ron Woodley, deputy leader of Southend Council, said: “For the wider town we’ve done things like the Southend Pass, which means residents will be able to park for three hours at a time for £8.50 a month. Maybe the hospital needs to take a similar approach.”