Madam, – William Coleman’s dismay at seeing wheel-clampers at work in the car park of his local hospital is understandable. (December 23rd). If any activity is the antithesis of a caring establishment it is this one.
Here in the UK plans are afoot to regulate their activities. There have been many instances where they have been overzealous in immobilising vehicles and demanding excessive charges for their release. It has been reported that motorists who abandoned their cars in a pub car park because of the treacherous weather conditions returned the following morning to find their vehicles clamped.
May I take issue with Mr Coleman when he says that he sees the need for hospital parking charges. It is true that such an exercise generates a considerable sum of money for the health service, but such a practice is anathema to the very principles of caring for the sick in a developed society. It’s a tax on them, nothing more, nothing less.
Most hospitals in Scotland and Wales discontinued such charges recently and in England the health secretary Andy Burnham has promised to phase them out over the next three years. – Yours, etc,