BOSSES at Warrington Hospital must be regretting the decision to bring in a new parking provider to regulate drivers.

Since the system went ‘live’ earlier this year, the Warrington Guardian has been inundated with complaints.
More than 4,000 people have been issued with ‘fines’ when they have paid for parking.

Even ambulances and fire engines have been ticketed.

Whatever the legalities on the system – and the Citizen’s Advice Bureau is the latest to get involved in the debate calling the signs in the car park illegal – these charges are morally wrong.

People have always had to pay to park in the hospital, people accept it and most were happy to use the pay and display machines when they visited the site.

But for these charges to be issued to people who are parking quite legally is pretty unpalatable.

Most of these people are of course the most vulnerable in society – the sick and the elderly.

Most will simply pay up as they have probably never been fined in their lives, despite not doing anything wrong.

The Warrington Guardian understands some senior executives are labelling this as simply a ‘media storm’.

Yes the Warrington Guardian has reported on this extensively and will continue to do so.

But the time has come to stop this now.

There is no objection to charging people to park at the hospital – it is not nice but it is a reality of modern day life.

But for thousands to be wrongly charged when having done nothing wrong is outrageous.