CHAOTIC scenes surrounded the region’s largest hospital on Monday as wardens dished out hefty £90 parking fines.

Furious families also hit out after the Huntlyburn Road access to a neighbouring nursery facility became gridlocked with ticket-avoiders.

And public roads leading to Darnick and Dingleton were also congested with drivers attempting to swerve the new parking penalties.

NHS bosses introduced new short-stay sections to its car parks at the hospital in a bid to end the no-spaces problem faced by many visiting the wards.

And they also brought in wardens to slap tickets onto any vehicle which overstayed its welcome or was parked in 'inappropriate’ places.

Amongst the first to face the stiff penalties were a group of community nurses on a two-day refresher course at Borders General.

Staff from Macmillan Cancer Care were also amongst the 20 or so whose cars were slapped with windscreen fines.

Most of the vehicle victims were parked on a strip of grassland above the Careshare Nursery.

One community nurse told the Border Telegraph: “We arrived at the hospital at 8.45am and all of the long-stay car parks were full.

“The road from Darnick to Dingelton was packed with cars and the road leading up to the nursery was also lined with cars on either side.

“We thought this was a safe place to leave the cars as it was out of the way and a lot less dangerous than on the road.” The five or six nurses we spoke with, who had come from as far away as Jedburgh, Kelso, Peebles and Berwickshire, said they wouldn’t pay the penalty notices.

And they would leave their cars on streets of surrounding settlements the following day.

Another nurse told us: “It will be easier to find somewhere without yellow lines in Darnick or even Melrose and walk in. This is a mandatory course for community nurses and we have to be here.

“This new parking set up is not only dangerous but will put people off coming to the hospital.” For the past month any car which was left outside marked bays was given a 'friendly warning’.

But Monday’s onset of monetary penalties has forced hundreds of staff to clog up surrounding entrance roads.

David McLuckie, Director of Estates and Facilities at NHS Borders, said: “We are unable to comment on individual cases, however we can confirm that the appeals process for vehicle owners who have been issued with a parking charge notice is clearly detailed on the notice.” Amongst the first to hit out at the problems were parents who were attempting to drop their young children off at the nearby Careshare Nursery.

Many staff members from the hospital had used their private car park.

And dozens of others left vehicles around the junctions leading into the toddler facility.

One Galashiels mum told us: “There are cars parked everywhere. You can hardly get in or out of the car park. It is a narrow single-lane road yet there are cars parked all the way up on both sides.

“We have young children in our cars - this is highly dangerous and the hospital will have to take some kind of responsibility. All the parents at the nursery are angry about this.” NHS Borders bosses forced staff to remove their cars from the Careshare Nursery car park on Monday morning.

Mr McLuckie added: “As soon as concerns about the availability of spaces in the Careshare Nursery located on Huntlyburn Terrace were raised with NHS Borders yesterday an immediate communication was sent to staff reminding them that the Care Share car park is private and is not for the use of NHS Borders staff.”