DRIVERS are causing chaos at Crosshouse and Ayr Hospitals by abandoning cars on footpaths or dangerously near road junctions.

Other crazy parking witnessed by officials and other car park users includes using spaces designated for the disabled — or dumping vehicles. Now frustrated bosses at NHS Ayrshire and Arran have issued yet another public appeal due to increasing concerns for the safety of patients, visitors and staff.

Car parks at University Hospitals Ayr and Crosshouse have designated short and long stay areas which are clearly signposted. Short stay car parks have a time limit of three hours and the long stay car parks are for people who need to park for longer than three hours.

When the car parking scheme was first implemented, there was a significant improvement in parking behaviours. However, this has not continued.

John Wright, director for corporate support services, said: “Over the past few years we have carried out surveys and audits of the car parks at University Hospitals Ayr and Crosshouse and created more than 400 new spaces across both sites.

“However, we have now reached the limit of the number of new car parking spaces we can build. We are, therefore, asking for help from members of the public.

“We need to make sure that we all play our part in parking appropriately and safely in all of our car parks across all of our sites. This will help traffic to flow better, reduce the risk of accidents and ensure that we comply with health and safety regulations.”

Mr Wright added: “We know that parking is challenging on our sites, particularly at University Hospitals Ayr and Crosshouse.

“However, we are limited to the number of spaces we have and this is why we are urging the public and our staff to help us and to park appropriately. We will also be looking at other ways of reducing the volume of traffic on our sites at particular times of the day.”

The hospital team are asking drivers to make sure they park only in a designated parking bay; do not park on footpaths, or at road junctions; do not park in disabled parking spaces if they do not have a blue badge.

They also ask if more people could consider using public transport or car sharing.