London North Eastern Railway is supporting the Coronavirus vaccine rollout in Newcastle by allowing 370 car parking spaces to be made available for people attending the NHS COVID-19 vaccine clinic at Newcastle's Life Science Centre.
From Monday 18th January 2021, the train operator will be offering the car park spaces at Newcastle Central station for free for those invited to receive the vaccine.
Car parking spaces have also been made available by LNER for NHS staff and the vaccination team who are helping with the rollout of the vaccines.
David Horne, LNER Managing Director, said: “Since the outbreak of the pandemic we have been working hard to support communities along our route, as well as working to keep our customers and colleagues safe.”
“As Newcastle has a major vaccination centre on the LNER route, we are offering free car parking at Newcastle Central Station's long stay car park to make it as easy as possible for people attending the vaccination centre.”
The venue is one of seven vaccination centres that opened in January 2021 as part of the nationwide vaccination programme.
Professor Neil Watson, Chief Operating Officer for Covid-19 Vaccination Programme for the North East and North Cumbria, said: “This is a really generous offer from LNER and will make it easier for people to get to the centre for their appointments.”
“But we are reminding people if they receive an invite from the national booking service with an appointment for the Centre for Life they can, if they prefer, wait and go to their GP practice for their vaccination. It is likely their invite will arrive from their GP very soon. There's enough vaccine for everyone who wants one, so they don't need to worry about making a trip to Newcastle if they are happy to wait until their GP contacts them.”
“If they have received an invitation to be vaccinated already from their GP practice, we are asking them to keep this appointment rather than go to the Centre for Life. It will not be possible to get a vaccine at a Vaccination Centre without an appointment.”
Those attending their appointment are being urged to attend a few minutes ahead of their allocated time to make sure queues are minimised.
Anyone using the car park will be given a ticket, and this will be exchanged when at the Centre for Life which will allow people to exit the car park for free.
LNER has also given car park spaces to NHS staff at Peterborough Station if they have been relocated to Peterborough City Cente from Peterborough City Hospital.
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