Council chiefs have denied claims they put “profit before health” after it continued to charge people to use a car park near a coronavirus vaccination centre in Bath.
Inset: Dr Sharon Gillings
Thousands of people a week are getting the Covid jab at the Pavilion, but GP Sharon Gillings warned that any supposed barrier could put some vulnerable residents off attending.
More than 470 have signed her petition urging Bath and North East Somerset Council to waive the charge for patients using the Bath Sports and Leisure Centre car park.
Although charges for the car park remain in place, Bath and North East Somerset Council leader Dine Romero said that the body was not planning to profit from vaccine patients and that a more “informal mechanism” of free parking would be put in place.
Dr Gillings said it remains unclear how that mechanism will work.
Writing online, she said: “Imposing parking charges flies in the face of the wonderful community spirit that has characterised the local response to the pandemic.
“We urge the council to drop these charges immediately and stop profiting from the pandemic.”
The GP practice-led vaccination centre opened at the Pavilion on 12th January. Up to 700 people a day will visit this week to get their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, and they will have to return for their second.
According to the council’s website, it costs £1.60 to park in the short-stay car park for an hour.
Dr Gillings, a Bath GP who has been administering the vaccine, said patients use little of the time they pay for to get the jab, while many volunteers are giving their time for free to support the rollout.
She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “The Pavilion is a major centre for three-quarters of Bath’s population, and is also vaccinating social care staff and ambulance staff.
“It would be sat empty in this lockdown without the vaccination clinic. The elderly population don’t have smartphones and apps. Many haven’t been out since last March and going to be vaccinated is quite stressful enough without logistics.
“The cost of anyone getting Covid and needing care at home or in hospital outweighs the profit in human cost as well as financial terms.”
Parking is one of the council’s key revenue streams and has been heavily impacted by the lockdown. It has been able to recover some of its lost income from central government.
Councillor Romero said: “I want to be very clear, the council is not, and would not, profit from charging to park for vaccinations.
“The council has helped our NHS colleagues to set up the Pavilion vaccination centre in a very short space of time. This did not allow for us to undertake legally rescinding the charging order.
“Had we done that, we would not be able to reclaim any loss through the government’s income compensation scheme.
“Consequently, we are not planning to rescind the parking order but rather provide free parking through a more informal mechanism.
“This means we do not expect anyone receiving the vaccine to have to pay and we would encourage anyone who wants to use the car park for anything other than vaccination to consider finding alternative car parks so as not to take up parking spaces.”
But Dr Gillings said there was no signage to indicate there is free parking for patients attending for vaccination and the vaccination staff had received no communication from the council.
Stephen Sumner, Local Democracy Reporter
