It's been a 10-year wait, but park-and-ride buses could soon be heading for Winchester's Royal Hampshire County Hospital.

The idea is that its staff, together with workers at all the other Romsey Road establishments-the prison, the police HQ and King Alfred's College, should use the newly-extended park-and-ride at Bar End. Hospital bosses, faced with massive parking problems on site, have already tried offering staff free use of park-and-ride but take-up was poor largely because they didn't fancy the 600-yard walk up the hill from the nearest bus-stop. The turning point came when John Jacobs, the new travel plan manager at the hospital, organised a test run, with the cooperation of Hampshire County Council and Stagecoach, showing that it was possible to turn a bus around in the RHCH car park.

"In the past, the problem was always that there was nowhere to turn but now we have proved it can be done," he said.

"It would mean NHS staff will have a service that goes from park and ride directly to the hospital without having to change buses or walk up the hill, adding time to their journey."

The proposal to extend the park and ride bus route still has to be costed and assessed by city and county council traffic engineers.

Lib-Dem city councillor, John Beveridge, cabinet member for transport, welcomed the proposal as a major step forward. "This would be an excellent solution to congested parking at the hospital. The bus would serve more than the RHCH. It would serve all the major employers in Romsey Road," he said.

"Parking on the edge of town and taking a single bus trip door to door is a realistic, convenient alternative and it saves so much hassle."

Park and ride has been operating in Winchester since 1994 but Mr Beveridge said Romsey Road had not been included before because, prior to the completion of the extension, the facility had been working at maximum capacity.