Free parking at public hospitals for health workers in Sydney lockdown

The state government has made a big change to parking fees after healthcare workers were stung with hundreds of dollars in fines.

Frontline healthcare workers will now have access to free parking at public hospital carparks after The Daily Telegraph revealed they were paying hundreds of dollars in fees amid NSW’s escalating Covid-19 crisis.

NSW Health will also seek the assistance of relevant local councils to waive parking fines around hospital and vaccination facilities for healthcare workers.

The move came after Opposition health spokesman Ryan Park wrote to Health Minister Brad Hazzard calling for free hospital parking for frontline workers.

Frontline healthcare workers will now have access to free parking at public hospital carparks.

“This is a difficult and stressful time for health care workers who are putting their health on the line to look after the very sick. We believe we should be doing everything we can to ease that pressure. Now is not the time to be making money off people who are dealing with a health crisis,” Mr Park said.

NSW Health Deputy Secretary Phil Minns said he hoped the temporary free parking measure would bring “some peace of mind to all our health staff at this challenging time”.

All NSW Health staff required to attend work at NSW Health facilities for the duration of the period where public transport services are compromised, will have access to free parking.”

The new measures will take effect from the next NSW Health pay cycle.

A parking officer near the Sydney Olympic Park Vaccination Centre. Image: John Grainger

Members of the public have also expressed fury they’ve been stung with parking tickets while waiting in line for Covid jabs or tests.

Parking has been made free at the Sydney Olympic Park Vaccination Centre since July 14, but councils across the city remain split on whether to continue enforcement.

Hugh Kelly was one resident who said he’d been hit with a $117 fine after going to Royal North Shore Hospital for a test after being identified as a casual contact.

Mr Kelly was fined after his ticket expired while he waited in line for testing after parking his car at St Leonards train station.

“It seems opportunistic that the council are doing this during these times. We’re threatened with large fines for non-compliance, shutting our ability to earn money and put food on the table, but they can still collect revenue for meaningless infringements,” he said.

A parking officer near the Sydney Olympic Park Vaccination Centre. Image: John Grainger

Willoughby Council, whose boundaries include Royal North Shore Hospital, said parking patrols had been “scaled down” but ruled out dropping enforcement completely.

The City of Sydney, which has at least 20 testing centres, said the lockdown had placed “unprecedented pressure” on parking spaces and that it would take a flexible approach to parking infringements, but added it “cannot let people park unrestricted”.

Fairfield City Council, in one of Sydney’s hardest hit areas, said it was not enforcing parking restrictions surrounding COVID-testing clinics during lockdown.