I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention.
I was just coming on to the specifics of my area. My constituency and others now have centres of medical excellence, which means that people have to travel long distances for the treatment that they need. Many of them have to use their cars, because public transport is not an option. Over the past 18 months, I have witnessed people suffering when their appointment was delayed and they had to rush out to the car park to pay more at the pay and display machine. Such an encumbrance is unfair on people who need to receive important medical treatment, and it should without doubt be scrapped.
The guidelines should also stress strict adherence to a policy of paying on exit for the appropriate length of time spent in the car park, as opposed to using pay and display arrangements that involve people guessing how long they are going to spend in the hospital. I have witnessed at first hand people having to guess in that way and then finding that they do not need all the time they have paid for.
In my own area there is Northwick Park hospital, which is the centre at which many people from north-west London are treated, and Central Middlesex hospital, which is in the middle of an industrial estate and almost inaccessible by public transport, so anyone going there has to drive. There is no pay-on-exit facility available. In fact, the trust took away that facility and insisted that the parking area that was built for it be replaced with pay-and-display parking. It was a nonsensical decision, and I trust that the trust will review it and revise it accordingly. We also have Ealing hospital, which has a similar problem of not being anywhere near any public transport facilities. The tube lines run into the centre of London rather than radiating around the outside, so people travelling locally have to drive and use the car parking facilities.
I wish to touch on a specific case that I came across recently, that of Mr Francis Bacon, a registered disabled driver who suffered a serious puncture while driving to a hospital appointment. He was unable to move his car, which some good samaritans pushed on to the pavement while he went to get help to change his tyre. He got his tyre changed by some good people who came and helped him and put him on his way. Sadly, a parking operative from Ealing council had come along and put a penalty notice sticker on the car, because Mr Bacon had had the temerity to park on the pavement. He could not move his car—his car was disabled, and he was disabled—yet he still got a parking ticket. Despite protestations from everyone concerned, Ealing council refused to cancel the ticket, which is typical of the wrong attitude of both local government and hospital trusts themselves. We need them to work in harmony to promote parking arrangements that suit and protect
everyone. I trust that we can use this opportunity to encourage the Chancellor to provide extra funds so that we can do away with car parking charges once and for all.
6.42 pm