What Pisses Me Off: Paying for parking

There is something that makes my blood boil every time I think about it: paid parking in inconvenient places. While I’m happy to pay for parking in the CBD, or on the street, please don’t charge me and other people for parking at places we need to go!

Last week I was taking my ill mother to the hospital. After driving around like a maniac looking for a free park (there wasn’t one), I had park in the multi-level carpark. For a short blood test and check up, I had to pay $14 for 45 minutes! I know that’s really nothing compared to some inner city carparks, but it really makes you upset when you’re trying to get your relative well again and are slugged with a cost – at a private hospital mind you. Perhaps it’s one way of revenue raising, but it doesn’t sit well with me. I was furious to receive the ticket amount and have written two letters with no response.

Another thing that pisses me off about paid parking is the type at shopping centres. They say that it will free up car parks because now people will make quicker trips, and there’s sensors, but my experience is that the little green sensor above a park is never accurate.

Back to paid parking at hospitals, I heard of a friend who recently parked in a public hospital car park in Brisbane. She rushed there to see her grandson in ICU after a terrible car accident and she parked for three hours, only to get back and be made to pay $44. That is ridiculous! What about all the poor children in intensive care or the cancer ward whose parents are forced to get a bus to avoid paying for the exorbitant fees? You can’t avoid it, public or private, it seems.

Fuel is already an expense, as are rising living costs as well as maintenance and registration. Why should we have to pay for parking at hospitals when we often times are paying for specialists? It feels awful and is a kick in the guts.

What do you think? Am I right? Should parking be free at hospitals? Or is it fair enough?