Kidderminster hospital parking fees plan protests

Elderly and disabled people are set to descend on Kidderminster Hospital as they launch a campaign against proposals to charge them to park there.

Disabled blue badge holders can park in spaces near the hospital for free.

Bosses say the spaces will remain but drivers will instead have to pay the same price as everyone else.

Disability Action Wyre Forest and the Worcestershire Pensioners Action Group will gather next month to get the plans overturned. They will hold "action days" at Kidderminster and Worcestershire Royal hospitals.

Mark Lawley, chairman of Disability Action, said: "This is not just something that affects a few disabled people – 60 per cent of disabled people are over 60 so we have got the pensioners' group on board too."

The cheapest parking ticket – for two hours – costs £3, rising to £4.50 for four hours. Chris Tidman, acting chief executive for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: "In line with many other hospitals, the trust is planning to implement a consistent approach to car parking charges for all of our patients, which will include blue badge holders."