Re-reading this week’s papers, I again read the article regarding Hospital parking.

This has been an item of irritation for years and there are two real issues. The first is what the people running the car-park call “parking abuse”and the rest of us call being considerate ie passing our wasted over time (overspent) tickets to other motorists, to save them some money.

The reason there is wasted excess time on our tickets is caused by and raises the second issue.

Which is, that parking at the hospital is a big guessing game. Your first guess is how early you have to arrive in order to actually find a parking space.

Your second guess, is how long a time to actually book. Let’s say you have a 10am appointment -you don’t want to be parking up an hour beforehand; but do you dare try and leave only 10 mins?

Then there is the fact, that just because your appointment is for 10am; there is no guarantee you will be seen then. I have waited nearly an hour in the past.

Next is a gamble on the length of your appointment, something you rarely know.

All of which means that you have to gamble on picking a short parking time and getting fined for overstaying; or booking a long stay and risking paying over the odds.

Almost always doing the latter, you find you are in and out in half an hour; having paid for two! Then there is the fact that the machines don’t give change.

It’s bad enough that you need to be at the hospital, without getting back to the car feeling royally ripped off.

Why not put in a ‘pay for the time you have been there’ system; with pay as you leave machines?

E Dicker