"Pre-Op visit Aug 17"

Ok so had to attend for the above on a Wed afternoon, I live in Portsmouth and was familiar with the car-parking arrangements at the site.

Accordingly I decided to leave work earlier, go home, drop my car off , collect my motorcycle and ride to the Hospital even though I was not entirely sure that motorcycle parking was actually free (as it normally is elsewhere.

When I got to the car park I wobbled across to the very restricted availability motorcycle bays (shared by cyclists !!??) and found a place available.

So far so good. I had a look around on the pay-to-park machines for any confirmation on parking fees for bikes, none was evident. So unsure as to what the situation was I asked at the relevant reception desk in the dept I was attending, the answer was not reassuring.

Almost immediately it was announced that appointments were delayed by an hour (which became 1.75 hrs actually, but hey-ho.

Accordingly I decided to determine what the parking situation was for my bike now it seemed that the problem would be a whole lot worse if I failed to pay.

It took a few laps of the car park eventually ending up at the money machine before I found a desultory notice confirming that motorcycles were indeed free.

For the benefit of motorcyclists and in the interests of encouraging this form of transport can:

1. More Motorcycle parking bays be provided (I saw 3 maybe 4)

2. Make it absolutely clear on the parking tariff signage that motorcycles are parked free (if in motorcycle specific bays of course) leaving riders in no doubt when they enter the park.

Apart from that and the 1.75 hours delays, the visit was free of stress.