Number plate cameras proposed for Ninewells Hospital in bid to tackle parking chaos

Number plate cameras are being proposed for Ninewells Hospital in a bid to tackle parking chaos.

NHS Tayside launched a review into parking at the Dundee hospital after complaints that patients, staff and visitors regularly face long queues to get a parking space.

A traffic survey showed about 7,000 vehicles normally enter the site between 7am and 3pm on weekdays, despite there only being 2,500 available spaces.

Health chiefs say some patients can face waits of up to an hour – making them late or forcing them to miss appointments altogether.

The problems have been exacerbated since parking fees at the hospital were scrapped by the Scottish Government in 2021, with claims some people use it as a park-and-ride to travel into the city centre.

At present, Ninewells visitors using short-stay car parks must display a free ticket on their vehicles, but can be fined if they stay beyond the four-hour time limit.

During 2025, more than 14,500 fines were handed out at Ninewells car parks – a rise of more than 3,500 on 2024.

The health board says this “indicates that the existing arrangement and approach is not sufficient to prevent or deter parking violations”.

A report presented to the NHS Tayside board on Thursday has now set out measures proposed for both Ninewells and Perth Royal Infirmary.

During the first phase, NHS Tayside will renew its car park management and enforcement contract at both hospitals.

It will also cost the introduction of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras in car parks one, two and five at ground level at Ninewells to enforce the four-hour limit.

NHS Tayside hopes these cameras will “improve turnover in high-demand public parking areas closest to the main entrance, and provide more reliable real-time information on parking use which can support future decisions about parking allocation and traffic management”.

The second phase of the plan involves “operational changes to improve traffic flow and better align parking provision with the needs of patients, visitors and staff”.

These include changing drop-off areas and additional provision for blue badge holders.

The health board says it will also introduce “transparent, evidence-based permit criteria” for staff and the “re-definition of staff and public car parking areas”.

However, the seven-page report does not go into full detail of how or when most of these changes will be implemented.

Speaking at the NHS Tayside board meeting on Thursday, Rose Jenkins, director of infrastructure, said: “I think everybody recognises that there’s a long-term issue, particularly at Ninewells Hospital, that’s making it difficult for patients, staff and visitors to be able to find space and have a good experience when they are travelling here.

“So there has been an ongoing review at Ninewells that has identified a number of issues, which is a combination of things such as high demand, ageing infrastructure, ineffective enforcement, and parking arrangements that don’t reflect the current operational needs either.

“In effect, what we are looking to do is a two-phase approach, which we can continue to build on once we have got the first two phases out of the way, and we can also adjust as we go.

“The first phase will be about modernising the parking management systems.

“We are at the position to renew that anyway, and we have to do it by 2028 because the equipment is going to go out of date.

“The second phase is about the overall improvement of the parking allocation and accessibility to the site.”

She added: “There is no intent to put charges back in.

“If you don’t follow the rules, you’ll get a ticket, and therefore you’ll be expected to pay a fine for that.

“Overall, we are hoping this will make improvements.

“The stage we are at now is I’m literally waiting for some information to come back from procurement colleagues, to just check the timescales and next steps, so I’m hoping to get that back from either the end of this week (or) the beginning of next week.”

The measures will be reviewed after six months.

NHS Tayside says it currently has a parking budget of just over £1 million, and will assess the financial impact of the changes once tenders for the contracts have been received.