Piers Morgan calls for free parking for NHS workers to be made permanent after coronavirus pandemic

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Piers Morgan has tested negative for Covid-19
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Emily Lawford26 March 2020

Piers Morgan has demanded that the free parking rolled out for NHS workers fighting coronavirus be made permanent after the pandemic ends.

The Government announced on Thursday that free parking will be offered to NHS workers and social care staff on the front line of the fight against Covid-19.

It faced pressure this week to waive parking charges for NHS staff – who normally pay between £50 and £200 to park their cars at hospitals.

Before the announcement on Thursday, a petition calling for the Government to scrap parking charges for healthcare workers during the pandemic gained more than 415,000 signatures.​

And, after Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced the free parking on Thursday, the Good Morning Britain co-host tweeted saying he wanted the pledge to go further.

Sharing Mr Hancock’s announcement on Twitter, Morgan urged the Health Secretary to "make it permanent".

He wrote: "It would be outrageous to go back to charging NHS workers for parking at hospitals after this.”

Cars outside the Royal Free in north London 
AFP/Getty Images

It came after NHS staff told of parking fines they had received outside hospitals during long shifts battling the virus.

Morgan said on Wednesday that he would pay any fines given to NHS staff outside hospitals during the outbreak.

The journalist tweeted: "I will say now, to any health worker during the future of this crisis, however long it lasts, if any of you get a parking ticket, at a hospital where you’re working, I will pay it for you.

“I will pay it, and I will then go to the Government, and have the battle, and you don’t get involved.”

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