I REFER to the Comment column on the Letters page (October 31 2015) about The Patients Association complaining about hospital parking charges. The latest issue is about whether carers should have to pay and the comment rightly points out that if carers are given free parking, hospitals will have to consider other groups who may deserve free parking.

The problem with such proposals is that they will have to be administered and the difficulty of checking whether people not displaying a parking ticket are allowed free parking thus adding additional costs to hospitals' budgets.

People accept, maybe reluctantly, that they have to pay to park in towns, city centres and other places to shop and participate in leisure activities so there is no justifiable reason why they should not get their priorities right and pay to park at a hospital.

The alternative is for the public to pay more tax. Some people may say that they are willing to do so but it is a different story when they go to the ballot box at an election.

The charges at the Royal Bolton Hospital are only £3 for 24 hours which is very reasonable compared with parking elsewhere. If people cannot afford that then it is questionable whether they can afford the high cost of running a car. They have an alternative — dispose of their car and save a considerable amount of money which will enable them to take taxis.

R Swindells

Bolton