PATIENTS at a health centre say they are missing appointments because of thoughtless commuters taking up car parking spaces.

Complaints have been made about drivers taking advantage of the free parking at Crompton Health Centre, next to Hall i’ th’ Wood rail station, leaving patients with nowhere to park their cars.

Residents now want action to be taken to identify and punish the culprits, by installing parking cameras that can identify vehicles which are left in the car park during the day.

Caroline Morrell says that she regularly sees the car park, in Crompton Way, full by 9am and has been unable to visit her local GP practice as a result.

The 55-year-old said: “I went at 9am for an appointment and there were no spaces, and that has happened a number of times before.

“There are between 20 and 30 commuter cars parked there and that means there is nowhere for people visiting the health centre to go.

“They have promised for weeks that they will install a camera so they can issue fines to people parked there for more than four hours, but it doesn’t seem to be happening.

“People are trying to get to their GP appointments, so they end up abandoning their cars so they get there on time — it is ridiculous.

“There are old people and parents with prams struggling to cross the road to get to the surgery because of the traffic on Crompton Way.

“It is getting to be a completely unacceptable situation for people trying to use the health centre.”

The car park is managed by property group Assura, which says it is “exploring a number of options” to tackle the problem at the £9 million health centre.

Edward Henshaw, senior portfolio manager for Assura, said: “We are aware of the issue of rogue parking at Crompton Health Centre, and we are actively exploring a number of options with the building users to improve the situation as soon as possible.”

Ms Morrell, of Turton Heights, added: “These people are just abusing the free parking. I once drove up and down for 10 minutes looking for a parking space before giving up and going home.

“The inevitable result of this is that a lot of people will be late or miss their appointments entirely.

“It should only take about five minutes to drive from my house to the health centre, but I have to allow 30 minutes to get there because of the traffic and the time it takes to get parked.”

A Bolton NHS Foundation Trust spokesman confirmed that it does not manage the car park, which is also shared with the neighbouring Church of Saint Aidan.

As well as a doctor’s surgery and pharmacy, the centre also houses district nurses, a stop smoking service, a diabetic eye and foot screening service, and stroke services.