NHS provider 'sorry' for delays at vaccine centre and asks visitors to be patient

Tempers flared as queues built up at the entrance to the Askham Bar Park & Ride site after motorists arrived with relatives to get their jabs.

Rachael Atterbury said she was taking her 78-year-old mother to be vaccinated at 10.40am and had to queue for an hour and 40 minutes in her car before being able to park.

She said eight lanes of traffic were trying to get into one lane, with little assistance, and people started blowing their horns and shouting at other people."My mother was getting quite stressed with it all," she said.

She said: "It was really well organised once we had finally parked up. They were brilliant. My mother went in, had her jab and waited 15 minutes and then we left. It just needs better traffic management as you're driving in."

Another woman said it had taken her just under two hours to get to where the jabs were given from entering the car park.

A third commented: "Been sat here nearly a hour already and still in the loading bay."

A spokeswoman for Nimbuscare, which runs the two vaccination centres, said it was experiencing delays of around 20 minutes due to higher levels of traffic.

She said today was the first time two vaccine centres - the national and local centre - were running simultaneously.

She asked patients arriving in a car to follow the signs for the Askham Bar Park and Ride site - and not the signs for the smaller Tesco roundabout. She said this confusion was leading to more traffic and delays in appointments.

The spokeswoman said: "The directions for the Askham Bar Park and Ride bus site are clearly signposted. Please follow them, because we are using private back roads to help people easily access the vaccine site, to avoid the roads linked to Tesco supermarket.

"We are very sorry for the delay. Please come to your appointment at the specified time, and not before. We are experiencing some short delays, but if you have an appointment today you will be seen, so we ask for your patience."

The vaccination site at Askham Bar in York.

Delays at the Askham Bar vaccination site.