HOSPITAL car parking charges are the subject of a petition launched in Ashford.

Ashford and county councillor George Koowaree is demanding parking fees at the William Harvey Hospital are cut.

His complaint is that the cost for one to three hours is £1.70, with no lower rate available for people staying a shorter time.

Cllr Koowaree said: "The hospital is controlling how much time the people visiting can stay. I had to pay for three hours and I was only staying 15 minutes

"For six or seven months I have been trying to get the hospital to change this rule because I don't think it is fair. The hospital says the money goes towards patient care but I don't think it will make that much difference.

"On Saturday and Sunday there are no clinics so it is almost all visitors using the car park but they still have to pay this amount.

"At the car park in town it is 50p for the first hour and at the council car park you get two hours for 20p, the hospital charge is unreasonable. It should be user-friendly not a regime imposed on people."

Transport manager for East Kent hospitals, Greg Bowyer, said: "We regret we have to charge anybody to park at our hospitals. However, the income from the car parks means that patient money is not being diverted into parking.

"The fact is if we did not charge the relatively low amounts that we do, £1.70 for three hours, we would not be able to provide parking facilities for our staff, patients and visitors without using money intended for medicines, doctors and nurses."

• QUEUES were forming for the only working ticket machine in the William Harvey Hospital car park in Monday morning. Frustrated visitors found three of the four machines covered with bin liners, before queuing for the remaining machine.

Paul Smith, managing director of Plus Press in Ashford, was delayed by the incident.

He said: "The hospital, rightly, has a good medical reputation but the administration of its car park leaves a lot to be desired."

A spokesman for the hospital confirmed that the machines were full and that the Securitas team responsible for emptying them was delayed in traffic.

The machines were operating again by 11.45am.