Enemies of Reason Poundshop potshots at the media moral maze.

Free parking and non-existent ‘fury’

Charging people to park at hospitals is a particularly vile stealth tax that is particularly unfair on the poor and those living in rural areas. Which is why no-one's given a shit about it until now.

Of course, it's a disgrace that people should have to park to see sick relatives or attend appointments - sure, they could use the bus instead, but have you been on one lately? It's £2.50 for a single fare to go about five yards where I live, and woe betide you if you haven't got the exact fare. Which makes taking the car almost attractive, neatly avoiding the waiting at a bus stop and having kids flick bits of paper at your head before playing music on their mobile phones while you're on it.

Let's face it; car parks at hospitals are a 'revenue stream'. The ridiculously high minimum charges mean that patients are frequently overcharged, hit in the pocket for having the misfortune to be ill or to know someone who's ill. It's making sick people to pay for being sick. And it's completely unfair.

But... no-one's given a shit until now. Where have the campaigns been from the press? Who has raged against this disgraceful situation? Who has cared about this injustice until now?

So why now?

Hospital car parking charges are to be scrapped at most NHS hospitals in Wales from 1 April according to the country’s Assembly government.

The bloody Taffs! How dare they give a shit about ill people? Grrr! It's not fair all of a sudden!

The Hate looks at the situation objectively:

New NHS apartheid as free hospital parking to be rolled out in Wales... but not England

Doesn't that headline give the impression that the NHS is favouring Wales, as opposed to the truth about the devolved (=evil) Welsh Assembly trying to do something good?

The NHS trusts which do not have contracts with private companies will stop charging patients, visitors and staff from April 1 - the same date free prescriptions started in Wales last year.

Free scrips too! Why, it's almost as if the Welsh Assembly was trying to do things for the benefit of Welsh people... how dare the uppity daffodil-wavers do that?

Watch out, though, here comes a beautiful piece of journalism.

But the move has sparked fury in England where hospitals will continue to charge often exorbitant parking fees.

Fury. Remember that word.

Michael Summers, spokesman for the Patients Association said: "We see no reason why such a decision should not be made in England.
"We don't think patients should be subsidising the running of hospitals more than they already are."

Where's the fury there? That's just someone making the (valid) point that it's a good idea that should be happening nationwide. But no, let's pretend he's 'furious' at those leek-munchers!

Dr Jonathan Fielden, chairman of the British Medical Association's Consultants Committee said: "It is completely unacceptable for hospitals to charge extortionate fees for car parking, which does nothing more than penalise patients when they are most in need.
"The Welsh Assembly has taken decisive action and we would urge the Department of Health and Strategic Health Authorities to now address the spiralling costs of parking at English hospitals."

Again, no fury. No 'apartheid' - and what a disgusting word to use anyway. Just someone welcoming the move and saying that it should apply for everyone.

The 'fury' rages on:

Cath Lindley, general manager for Macmillan Cancer Support in Wales, said: "Macmillan Cancer Support would wholeheartedly welcome this move. Cancer patients have long been calling for parking costs to be scrapped."

Yet more 'fury'!

Tina Donnelly, Director of Royal College of Nursing Wales, said: "This is good news for patients, hospital visitors and our members alike who are often financially burdened by the costs of parking."

So, everyone's welcoming it. Even the Hate can't find anyone to slag off the Welsh, instead manufacturing 'fury' from nowhere. No comments on their story yet, so even their own readers haven't done the job for them for one. But of course the BBC's Have Your (Reactionary) Say greyhounds have come flying out of the traps...

Is it me or do the English appear to be getting ripped off in relation to everyone else.
We get the worst of all European laws but are excluded the good ones, we pay more tax than Scotland and Wales and get less services back in return.
English workers get put upon whilst the feckless anf asylum seekers are pampered.
ENGLAND, what a rip off.
[zen_reality]

Ah there we are. Recommended by 161 people. Is that for the dig against 'pampered' asylum seekers and 'the feckless'?

Yes they must be scrapped, along with exorbitant charges for TV and phones.
You pay tax and national insurance all your life, only to be fleeced if you are unfortunate enough to become ill.
Rip off Britain or should I say RIP OFF ENGLAND.
pete tong

Is it THE Pete Tong? Honoured to have such a luminary gracing the BBC's boards. But I think Pete has a point. Why pay twice for the same service? That doesn't seem fair.

Scrap parking charges and get back the lost revenue buy refusing health tourists and healthcare for the spongers.
john Adair, Hull, United Kingdom

Yes, blame the foreigners. Always a popular tactic on BBC HYS.

If you get a call in the middle of the night to say your elderly relative is dying (as I did), the last thing you want to think about is whether you have enough change for the hospital car park. If you don't, you risk a £50 fine and having your vehicle clamped.
What sort of a society is it that sees the hapless relatives of hospital patients as an easy target for fund raising? The govt turns a blind eye because it's a hidden subsidy for the NHS budget. Another word for it is extortion.
Mike B, E Yorks, United Kingdom

Again, I can find many things to agree with there. It is horrible to punish people financially when they are emotionally and/or physically vulnerable.

If we charged all our immigrants a minimum fee of £10,000 per treatment on our NHS then we could afford to make parking free for the indigenous tax-paying population.
The solution

The 'final' solution?

IOnce again the English are left to fund everyone elses freebies Scotland get free Universaties etc, Wales get free prescriptions and now parking what exactly do the English get apart from the bill. Its about time something was done to redress the balance.
[sheebeed]

Pfffft. 'Universaties'.

It’s a absolute disgrace that when visiting a hospital as a patient or as a relative/friend that you are made to pay for the privilege of parking.
Hospitals know full well that you have no choice but to use your car and they that’s why they apply charges, because they can get away with it. If I was in charge of a hospital that made people pay for the privilege of being ill I’ll be ashamed, it’s hardly like you are on a shopping trip in to your local town but they treat you as if you are.
Adrian Mugridge, Chester, United Kingdom

So, a mixed bag in the comments. Some haven't quite grasped the idea that it's not Wales punishing England; others railing quite articulately about why there shouldn't be parking charges at hospitals. A little bit of 'fury' but not quite what the Hate managed to magic up from nowhere and find no evidence for, anyway.

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