A MENTAL health support worker has criticised the ‘flawed’ and ‘misleading’ parking system for staff visiting a hospital to work.

Gary Rostron, 44, is angry after he followed the instructions on the signs and paid for his £1.50 ticket for the staff area but still received a £40 penalty notice.

He protested to staff at the Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital who referred him to car park operator Empark UK Ltd.

He has now written to the firm contesting the fine and £15 additional adminstration charge after they wrote to him demanding payment.

Mr Rostron, from Lodgeside, Clayton-le-Moors, is an agency care worker who visits different NHS sites all across the North West including the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General Teaching hospitals.

On June 26 he arrived at the Royal Blackburn for a 12-hour shift just before 7pm and, as he usually did, stopped at the main entrance to pay for the ticket needed to raise the barrier to enter the staff car park J.

When he returned to his vehicle to find the penalty notice he returned to the parking payment kiosk in reception and was told it was a matter for Empark not the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust.

Mr Rostron said: “The parking system at the Royal Blackburn Hospital is flawed, unclear and over-complicated.

“The signs are misleading.

“It must risk catching out many health workers who are occasional visitors to the site.

“I followed all the protocols I was asked to and still got a penalty ticket and fine.

“You need a ticket to moderate the entry and exit barriers which you are told not to leave in your car. The signs only mention staff permits which are round and completely different for direct employees.

“There is no mention of temporary permits and I have never been issued with or offered one.

“I have visited the Royal Blackburn several times and used car park J and this has never happened before.”

A spokeswoman for the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust said: “Parking charges and parking regulations apply to everyone using the Trust’s sites – patients, visitors and staff – including agency staff. As the penalty was issued by Empark UK, the operators of the car park, we would advise Mr Rostron to contact them for further assistance in this matter.”

There was no-one at Empark UK available for comment.