MANY people will be shocked at the amount of money generated from parking charges at Airedale Hospital.

In anyone's book, the £2.4 million raised is a quite staggering figure.

Over £500,000 has been taken each year since 2014 from patients and visitors alone.

And that figure is likely to soar following the hefty increase in charges imposed in April.

There is a strong argument that hospital parking fees – labelled by some as a charge on the sick – should be abolished altogether, as they were in England and Wales some years ago.

Airedale NHS Foundation Trust claims the revenue is reinvested in patient services, resurfacing and maintaining the car park estate and upgrading CCTV and security.

But surely the morality of asking people who are often by the nature of the situation seriously ill to fork out, must be questioned.

Issues are compounded by the fact that most patients attending a hospital appointment simply don't know how long they will be and considerable waits are not unusual, so you could rack-up quite a bill.

There is also a potential for increased traffic problems on neighbouring streets, as people seek alternative parking spots.

It is probably too much to ask that health trusts would voluntarily abolish charges.

MP John Grogan is seeking to raise the matter with Government ministers, but in the absence of any legislation perhaps hospital bosses could have their own rethink.