I see that carpark charges are to be abolished next year in the NHS. In the interim, there will be a cap of £3. Unfortunately, this applies to Scotland, not Walthamstow.

No such announcement seems to be in the offing for the patients, staff and visitors at our local Whipp's Cross hospital, where patients and their families pay a whopping £15.00 a day for the use of the carparks. When I phoned to ask about hourly charges (none of this is advertised on the Trust's website for people preparing for a visit to the hospital), the staff member I spoke to was not sure what the hourly rate was. At first she thought £3 or £4 pounds per hour, but then she thought that seemed like a lot and told me maybe it was £2 or £3. So that left me none the wiser. She did tell me staff were charged only 60p a day but had to park 'round the back'.

These inequitable arrangements are managed by a firm called CP Plus, a firm which is involved in at least 40 hospitals, and is a big fan of the New Labour PFI initiatives. (No doubt, because there are people with political influence in New Labour who are big fans of them). For some reason CP Plus are happy on their website to boast about their clients, which include Tesco and Morrisons but not so willing to tell the public anything about who is on their board, who has invested in them or how much profit their activities are bringing in. I suspect though, if they can provide 'car parking solutions' at 60p a day for the staff, there is a lot of money being made from the patients at £15.00 a day.