Disabled motorists have branded a move to make them pay to park at hospitals as “disgraceful”.
Blue Badge holders parking at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, Calderdale Royal Hospital and Acre Mills outpatients centre now have to cough up for parking fees like everyone else.
Badge holders who are on benefits are able to reclaim the cash from a hospital office.
But following the changes last Monday, which include a price rise for all motorists using the car parks, Examiner readers have slammed the new policy.
They have posted comment on our website and sent in letters to the editor.
Simone Budak said: “Absolutely ridiculous!
“Blue badge holders have it for a reason they are disabled!
“But to go back and claim it back is worse as it will probably be the other side of the hospital where someone who has mobility issues won’t be able to make! They are robbing swines!”
Rebecca Dalton, said: “The NHS trust is £4m in the red so we are meant to help them out by paying disabled and rising parking charges.
“Should be ashamed of themselves!”
Michael Mantle simply said: “As a disabled person, DISGRACEFUL!”
Disabled people visiting Acre Mills are currently being forced to cross busy Acre Street to the main HRI site to get their money back.
Throat cancer patient and wheelchair user Paul Wade from Linthwaite revealed he was one of the first to be told to make the inconvenient journey.
Helen Graham, said there was chaos at the new parking machines, which require disabled people to key in the registration of their vehicle.
Helen, who has a deformed hand and so struggled to use the machine, said she found having to queue to prove she was a genuine blue badge holder “humiliating”.
Ms Graham, said: “People do not have to be means tested in order to obtain a blue badge, they have, as in my case, to go through a strict interview to show and prove with documented evidence they are disabled which is then reviewed every three years.
“It is probably one of the few benefits you do not have to be means tested for and thank goodness for that!
“For me, it is not about the money, it is about helping to make every day lives of people with disabilities that little bit less challenging and stressful and showing a little kindness and compassion in recognition for the struggles they have to go through every day – which non-disabled people cannot begin to understand or appreciate.”
