‘When over 4,000 people are fined in one year and more than 350 of those fines are later cancelled, it is impossible to claim there are no parking problems’

The Royal Oldham Hospital(Image: MEN)

One Greater Manchester hospital trust earned more than £5.9 million in parking charges and fines, including £71,040 in penalties, new figures have revealed.

In 2024, the Royal Oldham Hospital alone issued 4,040 parking fines and 2,133 warning notices – while earning £838,000 in parking charges and fines, according to findings from a Freedom of Information request.

The MP for Oldham West, Chadderton, and Royton, Jim McMahon, responded to the FOI numbers by saying the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (NCA) ‘reported a total parking income of £5,918,971’ in 2024/25. The NCA runs four acute hospitals, including the Royal Oldham, Salford Royal Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary, and Fairfield General Hospital.

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Of that £5.9m sum, £2.2m was earned from patients and visitors, while £1.2m was from staff. £71,040 of the total was earned from penalty charge notices (PCNs), the NCA has confirmed.

While, at the Royal Oldham Hospital specifically, £838,000 of that £5.9m was generated from staff, patients, and visitors in 2024/25, added Mr McMahon.

The data provided by the NCA following the FOI request, published on January 30, showed that of the 1,204 appeals received in 2024, 358 were upheld. That means almost one in three of the people who appealed had their fine cancelled.

Dr Zahid Chauhan OBE, a GP and Oldham councillor, is now spearheading a campaign for fairer parking including the building of a multi-storey car park. He said: “When over 4,000 people are fined in one year and more than 350 of those fines are later cancelled, it is impossible to claim there are no parking problems.

“This FOI exposes a system that is trapping patients, visitors and staff – not supporting them.”

The campaigner also alleges a ‘structural failure in staff parking’. The FOI data shows that the Royal Oldham Hospital has issued 3,000 active staff parking permits, yet only has 1,277 staff parking spaces available.

This risks more than 1,700 NHS staff not finding a space when they come to work, even though they have been issued a permit, says Dr Chauhan. “Staff are being sold permits for parking that does not exist,” he added.

“This explains why staff are being fined, forced to park off-site, or left walking long distances late at night after long shifts.”

Councillor Zahid Chauhan, who was previously mayor of the borough(Image: Copyright Unknown)

The FOI numbers also share how there are only 336 patient and visitor spaces, with just 59 disabled bays for patients and visitors. The trust’s response says there is no available data on car park occupancy, but said: “Peak times for demand tend to be Monday to Friday 9am until 4pm.”

Dr Chauhan commented this period is ‘exactly when clinics, scans and ward visits are at their highest’.

The data from the FOI showed there are currently no A&E priority parking bays, no maternity bays, no emergency-use bays, and no risk assessments around staff safety in car parks at night or in low-visibility conditions.

At the same time, trust incident data from 2025 which was provided with the FOI response showed 44 safety and security incidents relating to trust car parks including theft of vehicles, criminal damage, lone worker safety issues, verbal and physical abuse and slip, trip and fall injuries.

“Staff are being asked to walk through unsafe, poorly monitored car parks at night, yet the Trust admits it has carried out no risk assessment. That is unacceptable,” said Dr Chauhan.

Jim McMahon MP(Image: Getty Images)

The campaign is calling for an immediate independent safety risk assessment of all Royal Oldham Hospital parking areas, including lighting, CCTV coverage, walking distances, late-night access routes and lone-worker safety.

Eddy Hardarker, chair of the Royal Oldham Hospital Parking Campaign, said “This FOI was submitted by one of our volunteers because people were fed up with being told their experiences weren’t real. The trust’s own data now proves what patients and staff have been saying for years, the system is overcrowded, oversold and unsafe.

“When a hospital admits it has done no risk assessment but still issues thousands of fines, something has gone wrong.”

The Royal Oldham Hospital uses a parking management company, Open Parking, to run parts of its car parking operation, including enforcement staff, signage, permits, payment processing, and ticketing systems. Payment machines are maintained by IPS Group and Metric Group, the FOI response reads.

In 2024, the trust paid £138,147 to these parking management and equipment providers.

At the Royal Oldham Hospital specifically, £838,000 of that £5.9m was generated from staff, patients, and visitors in 2024/25(Image: Manchester Evening News)

In the MP’s comments on the FOI revelations, he said: “As a point of principle, I do not believe that either staff or patients should pay to go to work or receive treatment. Likewise, visitors to inpatients have enough to deal with without what can be quickly escalating costs for even a modest stay…

“Both now and especially as the Royal Oldham Hospital site expands, there will be a need for additional parking infrastructure. Given the constraints of the site, the most realistic option is secure multi-storey parking.

“On November 13 2025 I asked the government what support it offers to NHS trusts for this kind of work, and they have confirmed that capital can be provided. The Northern Care Alliance have also responded to say that while they do not have any firm plans for revising their patient and visitor charges; they acknowledge that standardisation is needed; have confirmed it will be reviewed for the trust and are currently reviewing their car parking payment machines as part of contract renewals.”

Steve Taylor, chief officer at The Royal Oldham Hospital, said: “We recognise that parking can be challenging during busy periods and we are continually looking at ways to improve access for our patients, visitors and colleagues.

“To help reduce congestion on all our hospital sites, we are also exploring ways to improve staff travel, including a shared lift scheme, encouraging more sustainable travel options, and enabling colleagues to work remotely where possible.”