Star comment: Hospital parking charges a bitter pill for drivers
Is there a more hated tax in England than the hospital car parking charges?
And they are a discriminatory tax targeting the sick and the vulnerable, adding stress and worry to hospital visits.
The National Health Service is supposed to be an institution to which everybody contributes through tax as we all have a stake in the collective health and welfare of the nation. It is also supposed to be "free" at the point of delivery.
The parking charges ensure that it is anything but. You have to pay to go to hospital, unless you walk, cycle, or take the bus, which are rarely feasible, convenient, or practical alternatives to driving there.
Charges for parking at Shropshire hospitals to rise 75pc
Work is currently under way to install a new car parking system at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, with the Princess Royal Hospital at Telford soon to follow. The flat rate £2 charge is being replaced by a pay-as-you-stay system, with £2.50 for up to two hours, and more for longer stays. On the plus side for vehicle-borne patients and visitors, the first half hour will be free.
The reality is that many people will be having to pay more to park.
It does not have to be this way. Parking charges at hospitals are a relatively modern phenomenon. At the PRH, they were introduced in December 2004, amid great controversy. Before then, it got by without them. Now it contends that it cannot do without the money, so it must inflict this financial suffering.
But in Wales there is different thinking. Free parking at NHS hospitals in Wales was introduced in 2011 and the sky did not fall in. It goes to show that this is not merely a matter of money, but of principle and political will.
For visitors to the RSH and PRH the bitter medicine would be somewhat sweetened if parking at these hospitals was easy. But you try parking there at peak periods.
If motorists are to be milked in this way, would it be too much to ask for them to be treated with some more consideration?
