By Cam Lucadou-Wells
An online petition has been started by an ex-councillor against Dandenong Hospital’s “excessive” car park fees.
Former Greater Dandenong councillor Maria Sampey said student nurses had been parking on surrounding streets because they couldn’t afford the $25 daily fee at the hospital car park.
City of Greater Dandenong had fined the nurses for overstaying their parking spots and then waived them on appeal.
But it was time for the hospital to show “consideration and compassion” for the students’ financial hardship, Ms Sampey said.
“In these Covid-19 times Monash Health should be showing consideration and compassion by providing parking for students at the same rates as permanent hospital staff are paying per day.”
Ms Sampey, who lost her Noble Park North Ward seat in the October elections, said hospital visitors were also charged excessively.
Especially if they spent long hours on the hospital for weeks on end, she said.
According to the Monash Health website, the first 15 minutes in the car park are free. After an hour, drivers are charged $10.
The rate escalates every hour up to a daily maximum of $25 and weekly maximum of $64.
A concession day rate of $11 is applied to pension and healthcare card holders.
In August, the City of Greater Dandenong waived a student nurse’s $660 of parking fines in a school zone near Dandenong Hospital.
The then-mayor Jim Memeti said at the time that the hospital could “resolve the problem” by making its “noticeable” on-site car parking free to its staff.
“Council has done this by waiving parking permit fees in its own multideck car parks.”
The online petition is at https://www.change.org/p/info-monashhealth-org-lower-the-unfair-monash-health-hospital-car-parking-rates/u/27926645
