Car park rage

Good news for people in Scotland and Wales that have loved ones in hospital; no more will you have to pay for the privilege of parking at the hospital to visit them.

But for those that reside in England, the charges – often equivalent to multi-storey car parks – remain in place.

It doesn’t seem fair – wasn’t the NHS set up to be free for all? Even if you purchase a weekly or season ticket, it is still not cheap to park.

I’ve written before on the practice of charging for car parking – basically, I think it’s immoral – but this rubs it in.

While the Scottish Government and Welsh Assembly should be applauded for getting rid of these charges, the UK government should be condemned for not following suit.

The government is not going to follow either. Health Minister Ben Bradshaw said he did not believe it was a “sensible use of limited resources” to subsidise car parking at hospitals in England.

However, I’m pretty sure that the Welsh and Scottish branches of the NHS aren’t swimming in excess cash, but they still seem to have found the money to do it, so I don’t buy that excuse.

I also don’t believe another comment from Bradshaw. He added that hospital trusts set their own charges to cover the cost of running and maintaining a car park. If so, how it can cost that much - £3.30 for 2 hours at one hospital in Birmingham - to look after a bit of tarmac with some white lines painted on it is beyond me. Even with a few CCTV cameras and a security guard or two, the cost is not that high – certainly not high enough to justify the charges.

It feels like yet another way that taxpayers are being fleeced through no fault of their own.

Nobody should have to pay to visit their loved ones. My advice is to find the nearest side street to the hospital, park there and walk in.