NEW parking charges came into force at Warrington Hospital on Monday and now we’re all paying more.

The concession they have given us is a 30-minute free period for people dropping off relatives or friends or collecting something.

But other than that it will cost you at least £3 a visit or £5 for longer stays. That might not sound too bad for a one-off but imagine how much it will cost if a loved one is in hospital for a week?

My husband had to go into hospital last year and was in for at least seven nights as they weren’t sure what was wrong with him. As I was working I could only visit him in the evenings, but a week of nightly visits would have cost me £21 at today’s prices. Twice a day visits will cost you the princely sum of £42. That’s a lot of money for most people to find.

Why should people have to ration their visits because they can’t afford to park?

For a pensioner whose other half is in hospital – they will need to find this hefty amount out of their hard-earned pensions.

I appreciate that not everyone drives to the hospital and yes, you could catch a bus, but that depends where you live. If you live in south Warrington the nearest place is the bus station unless you are prepared to catch two buses.

Apparently there are parking concessions available so I visited the website to see what they are – but when I pressed the link it didn’t work. So it means visiting the actual hospital to find out.

And it’s not as if parking is easy there – crikey it’s enough to give you high blood pressure just trying to find a coveted slot. It can be war in that car park.

Apparently bosses are even considering installing those dreadful parking machines where you have to type in your registration so you can’t hand over a ticket to someone else. I hope they rethink that idea.

At Whiston Hospital you get up to three hours for £1.50 and it’s a lot easier to park there as they have much more room. Three hours is enough to cover most eventualities so I don’t see why Warrington can’t have a similar banding.

Hospital parking rates do vary around the country with some even worse than Warrington.

Countess of Chester Hospital Foundation Trust charges £3 an hour and Wirral University Teaching Hospital Foundation Trust £2 an hour.

I know the NHS is cash-strapped but this rise seems too steep to me.

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I APPLAUD Mike and Paula Gallop for keeping their five-year-old son Bobby at home because they haven’t been given the school of their choice for him.

This is no ordinary situation as Bobby has type one diabetes.

Diabetes is a serious illness and Paula is quite rightly concerned that in an emergency she’ll be too far away if she sends Bobby to the school the council has offered. Diabetics can frequently suffer hypos when they need urgent attention.

Surely Bobby’s condition makes him a priority?

I know ‘rules is rules’ but isn’t there someone at the council with enough commonsense to realise that just occasionally they have to make exceptions for children with particular problems.

I wish the Gallops well and hope they win their fight to send Bobby to the right school for his needs.