I visited Darlington Memorial Hospital's nightmare car park

With residents taking to social media to express their concerns, reporter Olivia Howlett headed down on a busy Monday afternoon to experience the situation and see if it was truly as bad as what people say.

Arriving at the hospital car park around 3pm- in the middle of visiting hours, my initial thoughts approaching the entrance was that the car park looked… fine.

Woman misses gran's death because she was stuck in Darlington hospital car park

Cars seemed to be lined up in their spaces, and I naively thought I might even find a spot right away.

How wrong I was.

I started circling the lot, but every row I drove down was full, with cars wedged tightly together, and no empty spaces in sight.

Five minutes turned into ten, then nearly fifteen as I carried on looping around the cars in the small lot.

Frustration started creeping in when I realised I wasn’t the only person searching for a spot.

At least three other cars were doing the same slow shuffle, scanning for any sign to indicate someone was about to leave to take their spot. 

By the time I hit the ten-minute mark, I started to feel sympathy, not just for the visitors but for the patients.

I could only imagine someone with limited mobility or in pain trying to navigate this mess, or worse, someone rushing to see a loved one in their final moments, only to be stuck in this parking limbo.

Eventually, I gave up on the main car park. I noticed other drivers doing the same, heading into nearby residential streets.

Maybe I could find a spot there? But it wasn’t much better. Street after street was crammed, leaving barely enough room to drive through.

It now seems that the hospital’s parking situation was spilling out and flooding the surrounding area, affecting not just visitors but people who live nearby.

When turning into Witbank Road, there were cars parked on yellow lines, cars in spots marked ‘Permit Holders Only’ and some even partially blocking people’s drives.

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Speaking to a resident of Witbank Road, she said: “It’s so frustrating, I understand people need to go to the hospital and the parking there is a nightmare but living on this road is absolute mayhem.

“Sometimes it takes me ten minutes to get out of my road in my car as I have to dodge all the cars parked everywhere because it is so overcrowded. 

She added: “Even though the road is permitted and the other half yellow lines it doesn’t stop or put people off parking there. I really don’t think it is the staff or visitors fault, but I think the council should do something to help residents out.”

I eventually ended up finding a legal place to park just off Craig Street about 0.3 miles away and decided to walk to the hospital to see what that was like.

Apple Map screenshot of where I managed to find a legal place to park my car near the Hospital (Image: Apple Maps) The walk was nothing more than inconvenient for me, but for someone in pain, or someone with mobility issues, I can imagine this would be really hard. The road was very busy and if the weather was more unpleasant, I’m sure that would also be an issue.

Before I left, I decided to test the infamous ticket machines myself. True to form, the two I went to were both out of order.

For someone in a hurry, trying to pay for parking this could be the final straw in an already stressful day.

As I got back to my car and drove away, I couldn’t help but think about the stories people have sent to The Northern Echo- including one woman missing the final moments with her grandmother after being caught up in the car park.

A spokesperson for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust previously said: “We understand the concerns raised regarding parking at Darlington Memorial Hospital and appreciate the feedback from our patients and visitors.

“Currently, Synchronicity Care Limited, in partnership with the Trust, is reviewing parking and traffic management across both Darlington Memorial Hospital and the University Hospital of North Durham.

"This review aims to recommend and implement improvements that will benefit all users of our facilities. We also encourage visitors to consider alternative travel options where appropriate. We remain committed to exploring all practical solutions to improve parking for our patients and visitors.”

Something needs to be done about this because at the moment, Darlington Memorial Hospital's car park is not just an inconvenience for many, but also the source of unnecessary heartbreak.