Outrage over disabled parking fee

A decision by a Derby hospital to charge disabled patients for parking has been branded a "monstrous tax on the sick" by disability campaigners.

The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) said blue badge holders will be hardest hit as they are likely to need to go to hospital more often.

One kidney dialysis patient claims she faces paying £400 a year because of the decision at the City General Hospital.

Derby Hospitals NHS Trust said the charge is part of a new parking policy.

This is making the most vulnerable pay more

Will Bee, Disability Rights Commission

Will Bee, of the DRC, said: "This is a monstrous tax on the sick as it's more than likely that disabled blue badge holders will have to attend hospital more often.

"There is plenty of data to say disabled people are worse off, so this is making the most vulnerable pay more.

"However, there is nothing in the law that says they can't do it."

Sandra Hardie, from Stanley Common, said the charges will be "crippling" for patients like her.

Mrs Hardie, who has dialysis three times a week, added that the new proposals will be "crippling" for kidney patients.

Temporary spaces

Mrs Hardie said: "Having to go to the hospital three times a week for the rest of my life is not a pleasant thought and all these little irritations just pile on top of each other.

"Car park costs are going to be really crippling considering that most of the dialysis patients are unable to work, simply because they are at the hospital three days a week."

She is also upset about plans to move disabled parking from outside the hospital to a nearby car park.

"When I come out from dialysis, I'm usually very tired as I've sat there for four hours so my joints are very painful... the thought of this extra walk is quite distressing and much further than we're allowed to walk under the rules of the disabled badge scheme," said Mrs Hardie.

A trust spokesperson said the current disabled parking spaces were always temporary, as a new hospital is under construction at the site.

She added that they needed to be removed to make way for a blue light road used by ambulances.

The city's new £333m super hospital is due to open at the site by December 2008.