A COUPLE who visit an elderly relative every day at Malvern Community Hospital have slammed the new car parking charges that came into effect this week.

Di and Jon Rayner go the hospital, in Worcester Road, twice a day to visit Mr Rayner’s 97-year-old father Robin.

However they now face shelling out more than £100 a month after a parking charge of £2 for stays of more than 20 minutes was put in place.

“We have been going back and forth and in and out of the hospital twice a day for the last few months since Jon’s father has been in there,” said Mrs Rayner. “Now it is going to cost us £28 a week in fees to do so, which I think is atrocious.”

Mrs Rayner says she fully understands the reasons for parking charges being in place, but that the 20 minute period allowed without paying is “totally inadequate”.

“It simply isn’t long enough,” she said. “Half an hour would be more reasonable as it would allow you five minutes to get in and out and still give you 25 minutes, which is a decent amount of time to spend with someone.

“As it is it just puts unreasonable pressure on visits. This week Robin has been more worried about me leaving on time than he has with telling me what he has been doing.”

She added: “There are an enormous number of elderly patients in the hospital and they must have relatives who are now in exactly the same situation as us.”

Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust spokesman Hardeep Cheema said: “Car park charges are consistent with those in the other community hospitals in the county. The income received from the car park at Malvern contributes to the maintenance costs of the car park itself and the surrounding hospital grounds.

“Patients and relatives who fall into a specific category are charged reduced fees or in some cases are exempt due to the nature of their condition. These include people receiving cancer treatment, people with a family member who is critically ill, as well as parents of children who are staying overnight in hospital. In addition, drivers with disabled parking badges are exempt from paying charges, as are volunteers for the trust.”