DRAMMEN/OSLO (Nettavisen): Family father Jan Slåtto-Jensen is upset about the parking conditions at Drammen hospital. In October, he experienced a bit of a nightmare when he had to park his car at the hospital.
His seven-year-old son had become acutely ill with an inflammation of the hip, and had an appointment at the hospital the following day.
– When we got to the hospital, we first had to drive around and look for a free place, and unfortunately there aren’t that many. So I left my family and spent time driving around looking for a parking space, Slåtto-Jensen tells Nettavisen.
It was then 9 in the morning, and the cars were crowded in the parking lots by the hospital.
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– Couldn’t join
Finally, he found an empty hatch for the car, and ran towards the hospital to make his son’s doctor’s appointment.
– I was a little stressed, because I wanted to be part of this myself as a father, he says thoughtfully.
He opens the Easypark app to pay, and since he didn’t know how long they would have to stay in the hospital, he chose 5-6 hours. But it didn’t work, because the maximum parking time was three hours.
– Unfortunately, the way it is is that you rarely come in at the agreed time. So time passed and we approached the maximum time. So when the doctor came to examine my son, I had to go out to move the car and wasn’t allowed to take part in the whole consultation, he says dejectedly.
Fortunately, his partner also went to the hospital, and was able to be with his son.
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– I was cursed
After this, the parking nightmare only continued for the father of small children, who has previously told about his experiences to Drammens Tidende.
– I moved the car 50 meters away in the same street, and will have to pay again. Then I get a message that you can’t, because you have used the maximum time in this zone, says Slåtto-Jensen.
So he had to turn around again and go back to the car to look for other parking zones.
– I was reasonably pissed off, because I was forced to spend time on this when my son was in the hospital and would have preferred to have me there. I ran back to the car and had to drive round and round again, he describes.
He found a new parking zone below the hospital, but even there it was allowed to stand for a maximum of three hours.
– But then you had maxed out both zones at the hospital, and you are banished from the area and have to park in the center of Drammen, several kilometers away. It’s completely pointless.
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– Parking hell
After he got home that tiring day, mostly because of the parking problem, he posted a harsh post on Facebook.
Parking hell at Drammen hospital. What the hell is going on with parking facilities and parking fees/prices at Norwegian hospitals? This morning, when we drove our boyfriend William to an emergency appointment with a pediatrician at Drammen Hospital – I experienced something that made me mildly provoked, wrote Slåtto-Jensen.
There he says that at the Children’s Department he also overheard another distraught father, who had been at the hospital almost every day for the past two weeks with his seriously ill son. The single father had received three parking fines, in addition to having paid several thousand for parking.
– Now I was lucky that I was not alone with my son in the hospital, but the situation is completely different when you are a single mother or father. What are you going to do then, like? You can’t just abandon your child, he says, adding with a sigh:
– It would be so stupid to have to spend time on such things, because there is a reason why you are in the hospital. You are not there for fun.
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Received several fines
Slåtto-Jensen managed to avoid parking fines this day, but he too has received parking fines at Drammen hospital.
– At least I have received 3-4 parking fines there. I have a father with cancer and have spent some time in the hospital with him. When you are a relative and there are things like this that are a bit sad and sad, then it is completely out of the question for you to interrupt conversations with cancer patients to move the car. In such cases, a fine of NOK 750 is acceptable, he says.
He says he is extremely disappointed with the system, and believes that parking for relatives should really be free.
– There should at least be a system where you might get a note when you get to the hospital that you can put in the window, which shows that you have something to do here and can stay as long as you need. Or that you could write a note in the Easypark app about the same. This is in any case solvable, he emphasizes.
In the Facebook post, Slåtto-Jensen tagged the mayor of Drammen, but feels his frustration is just being overlooked.
– You feel powerless. There is only silence and no will to resolve this. But it only motivates me, because I’m a guy who wants to make changes. If I were mayor of Drammen, I would fix this, he says.
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– It gets thin
Slåtto-Jensen just snorts at the arguments he is confronted with.
– Some people say that the danger of commuter parking is the reason why they have such short parking times, but I think that argument is a bit thin – because it is some distance to the train station in Drammen. The employees also have their own parking zone, he says about that.
Drammen municipality operates many of the car parks at the hospital.
– The municipality has a total of approximately 80 kerbside parking spaces in the local area regulated by a fee and a maximum time of three hours, within the fee period 08.00-20.00, the business manager for parking in Drammen municipality, Claus Mølbach-Thellefsen, tells Nettavisen.
In addition, the municipality, through its subsidiary Dpark AS, has regulated 180 parking spaces on Waagaardsløkka below the hospital with a maximum of five hours of parking.
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– Contribute to circulation
– While Waagaardsløkka mainly serves visitors to the hospital on weekdays, the kerbside parking spaces also serve visitors to other addresses in the area. The kerbside parking spaces are set for 3 hours, to contribute to circulation, explains the business manager.
He points out that the healthcare company Vestre Viken also regulates and operates part of the car parks at the hospital.
– Vestre Viken carried out a major change to the parking regime, which included both employee and visitor parking, in the summer of 2015. Before introducing a maximum parking time, the time regulation on Waagaardsløkka was discussed between Vestre Viken and the parking operations in the municipality. Vestre Viken wanted a maximum time of five hours at Waagaardsløkka and stated that it was sufficient for the hospital’s patients. This was the basis for the setting of the city council’s decision on the maximum time, says Mølbach-Thellefsen.
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He says it is also possible to complain about the maximum time.
– If we receive a complaint about an imposition related to a maximum time, which is considered unreasonable to maintain, it will be possible to waive it when there is documentation from the customer, says Mølbach-Thellefsen.
In addition, he points out that you can park for longer than five hours in the Thamsgaten car park, 500 meters from the hospital.
Mayor: – Something to look at
Mayor Kjell Arne Hermansen in Drammen says he is open to looking at the parking rules.
– If there are any weaknesses in the rules that apply now, it may be something we have to look at again, says Hermansen to Nettavisen.
He also points out that the health authority has a large number of places that the municipality does not control.
“A few years ago, there was a dialogue between the health authority and the municipality about the parking regulations in the area, and at Vestre Viken’s request, a limit was introduced on the number of hours you could park,” he says.
2024-01-21 07:01:20
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