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Pudsey Councillor Josie Jarosz has made an
impassioned plea to the coalition running Leeds City Council to
reverse their decision to increase car parking charges at the
Beckett Street car park in Leeds.
The coalition took the decision last year to
increase the cost of parking by 20p an hour and Councillor Jarosz
asked in last month’s Council Meeting that the decision be
reviewed.
She is extremely concerned that the increase is
making it difficult for elderly and vulnerable people to attend
hospital appointments. The Pudsey Councillor spoke up
earlier in the year when bus fares increased and called on the PCT
to consider increased travel costs when scheduling
appointments. She is worried that the increased
parking costs combined with higher bus fares may make attending
hospital financially prohibitive for some
people.
Councillor Josie Jarosz (Labour,
Pudsey) said: “It seems to me that people
who need to go to hospital are being taken advantage of, they have
no choice but to pay the charges and so form a captive income for
the Council.
People
coming from Pudsey already have a long journey but now face either
higher bus fares to get to hospital or increased parking charges
when they do get there. I am not asking for all
parking charges across the city to be reduced but I really do think
that we have a duty to protect the most vulnerable people and not
to callously take advantage of them when they are in need of
help.
I think that Leeds City Council needs to
consider its moral obligations and not just its bank balance, I
can’t see that reducing the charges in one car park will bankrupt
the Council.
All we have to do is recognise what is
right and do it.”
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Councillor asks for a fair deal for hospital patients
