Ninewells patients will pay a standard �1.50 charge

NHS Tayside said it had to tackle the number of people using the car park but not visiting the hospital.

There will also be a four-hour time limit in two car parks at the hospital, a move which met with mixed reaction.

The plans, which were approved at a board meeting of the health authority, mean anyone parking for more than seven hours will have to pay a �15 penalty.

Patients attending the hospital for treatment will only pay the standard �1.50 charge, even if they stay longer than four hours.

Under the radical plans brought forward under an independent review, the parking areas nearest the hospital will be used for patients and visitors' short-stay parking.

'Parking abuse'

There will also be a four-hour standard charge at the disabled parking spaces closest to the hospital entrance as well as at the A&E car park.

Brian Main, head of support services at Ninewells, said the charge aimed to increase the turnover of vehicles using the car park.

"We wanted to address the general abuse of parking facilities here, particularly the abuse of disabled spaces by non-disabled drivers and people using the hospital site as a park-and-ride facility," he said.

"We have known for some time that our disabled spaces are regularly abused by individuals displaying a blue badge which is not their own and other spaces on site are occupied all day by people who are neither working in, nor attending, Ninewells."

'Not enough spaces'

Local councillor Nigel Don expressed mixed views about the proposal.

"If people are using the hospital car parks as a kind of park and ride then I welcome the plans as they should act as a deterrent," he said.

"However, anything that encourages people to park outside the car parks could be bad news as more spaces will be taken up in nearby residential areas."

Dundee East MSP Shona Robison welcomed some aspects of the plan.

However, the SNP health spokeswoman said: "While I accept that there may have been abuse of the disabled parking scheme at Ninewells, I remain to be convinced that charging all disabled drivers for parking is the best way to address this problem."