Letter: Hospital parking fees are a tax on the sick
In reply to T Cleaves ('Parking fees fair'). When I was young, ownership of a motor car was the exclusive province of the business and professional classes.
Today, most people have one and could not pursue their occupations or live active and fulfilled lives without it. Nevertheless, it is still an expensive proposition and any addition to the costs is quite reasonably resented.
In recent years, most health authorities have realised the revenue-raising possibilities of hospital car parks and acted accordingly. To say that such income is an essential part of hospital finances is nonsense. If everybody came on the bus, would hospital units close and operations be cancelled? I don't think so.
The charges are a cynical device to raise additional revenue, the payment of which cannot be avoided. They are, therefore, a tax. Since the only people other than staff who go to a hospital are sick people or people associated with them, they are therefore a tax on the sick.
To increase the charges implies that medical costs have increased, and that medical services will be curtailed if the additional funds are not forthcoming. Again, nonsense.
Whilst I agree that the charges are hardly a burden, they are an imposition and for those having to attend hospital frequently, they are not as he suggests 'trivial'.
Fred Brian, Telford
