Going to hospital isn’t high on my list of fun things to do with my spare time. But from time to time, most of us end up there.

It doesn’t matter why you need to go to the Lovely Lane site, if you go by car, your problems start before you even set foot in the building.

I refer, of course, to the wholly inadequate car park. I have never baulked at having to pay to park at Warrington Hospital – especially if the money raised is for patient services – but actually finding a parking spot in the first instance borders on impossible.

Three of four years ago, I had a series of outpatient appointments at Warrington and after almost missing the first one because I couldn’t find anywhere to park, for the rest of them I elected to walk to the hospital – 45 minutes each way.

For the record, I have always been opposed to hospital staff having to pay to park.

I was intrigued, then, when I read that Warrington Hospital is going to reintroduce car parking charges.

The charges were suspended in March following the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, after a year of free parking, Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has confirmed that charges will return on April 1, thankfully not for staff though.

But here’s what surprised me, the reason members of the public will have to start paying to park again is in a ‘bid to reduce congestion’.

In a statement, the hospital trust says the key reason for the reinstatement of parking charges is continued congestion, especially at Warrington, where patients, visitors and staff are struggling to park.

A trust spokesman said: “This is despite restricted visiting, more than a third of outpatient appointments being held virtually and a reduction in some non-urgent elective work while the trust works through the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The trust has seen a 35 per cent increase in vehicle movements in the April to June period at its hospitals in the last two years.

“In an attempt to ease the situation, it has invested heavily in additional offsite car parking in Warrington, with 178 new offsite staff spaces created in the past two years.”

So, let’s just look at this for a moment, shall we?

Restricted visiting should reduce the number of cars on the car park. Similarly, having a third of outpatient appointments on line should reduce the number of cars on the car park and the same can be said for the reduction in non-urgent elective treatments.

Add to that the fact there are now almost 200 staff car parking spaces that aren’t even on the hospital grounds.

Logic would seem to dictate with all those changes over the past year, there should be more free space on the car park, and yet the trust spokesman says there’s been an increase of 35 per cent in vehicle movements. Doesn’t make sense, does it?

Perhaps the car park has been extra busy because people with no business at the hospital have been taking advantage of the free parking.

If that’s truly the case, my disgust at those low-lifes knows no bounds. Just what sort of person would do that?

While we’re talking about medical matters, a reader has asked me to clarify my stance on those people who, for whatever reason, don’t want to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Whatever your reason for not wanting to be vaccinated, that’s up to you and I’m not going to argue with you. Nor should anyone else. It is completely a matter of personal choice.

But as the availability of vaccines becomes restricted, as seems likely throughout April, the vaccine-hesitant should be allowed to live with their choice.

I don’t want precious NHS time and resources wasted on chasing vaccine deniers and the hesitant.

There are plenty of people still to be vaccinated now who have no such reservations about the jab and who will happily bare their arms for a jab.

If the NHS really wants to have another go at persuading people who turned down their appointment, the time for that is at the end of the rollout when all those adults who want to be vaccinated have had their second jabs.