PATIENTS have slammed a hospital's plans to charge staff yearly parking fees of up to £100.

Bury's Fairfield Hospital is due to introduce the charges in the coming months. Plans to introduce charges for people visiting relatives or friends are also in the pipeline. A survey by Bury Community Health Council showed more than 89 per cent of people surveyed called for the plans to be dropped.

Paul Reynolds, chief officer at the health council, called the charges a "stealth tax."