New Doncaster hospital parking system criticised as ‘financial gamble’ for struggling families
Doncaster & Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) have been criticised for the new system, which replaced a pay-on-exit scheme in the Women’s and Children’s car park in August 2026.
The controversial new pay-and-display parking system at Doncaster Royal Infirmary (DRI) will force struggling families to take a “financial gamble”, Citizens Advice has said.
Doncaster & Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) have been criticised for the new system, which replaced a pay-on-exit scheme in the Women’s and Children’s car park in August 2026.
James Woods, chief executive of Citizens Advice Doncaster, said: “You’re asking people to predict how long they will be in hospital and effectively making a financial gamble.”
He said pay-and-display parking would force visitors to “overpay” for far more time than they will need, or risk a fine if their appointment takes longer than expected. He added neither option is affordable for some local families.
“A lot of people in Doncaster are suffering from the cost of living crisis and poverty,” Mr Woods said.
“More and more working people are coming into the Citizens Advice service and struggling to make ends meet. There’s no way to make ends meet,” he added.
The Citizens Advice Doncaster are seeing increasing numbers of people operating with negative budgets, where the increasing cost of living means family expenditure is higher than income.
Mr Woods said: “Paying for time you actually used is fair, but asking somebody to guess how long they are going to be in the hospital is not.”
A spokesperson for DBTH has previously said it will “consider the issues”, first raised in a report from Healthwatch Doncaster.
The watchdog, led by CEO Fran Joel, said “women in labour, families in an emergency, and parents of sick children are being asked to guess, and are being penalised when they guess wrong”, in a recent report.
However, DBTH refuted the suggestion that DRI staff could no longer get parking tickets covering full 12 or 14 hour shifts.
The NHS Trust pointed to a number of “concessions” in the pay-and-display system which would help against the issues raised, including free parking between 7.30am and 8.30am; full-day tickets being the same price as eight hours; and a 30 minute grace period on time expiry “with treatment or appointment overruns taken into account”.