Trust made more than £1 million in car parking charges

A hospital trust in the West has been accused of levying a "tax on sick people" after it was revealed to be making more than £1.6million a year from car parking fees.

The Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust was listed as one of 33 trusts which earned between £1 million and £2 million a year.

The investigation showed that year on year, hospitals across England are raising increasing amounts of money from staff, patients and visitors, including those who are disabled.

Hospitals are also handing over millions of pounds to private firms to run their car parks for them, and allowing some to cash in on parking fines. Others use the money to pay private firms under a private finance initiative.

Seven NHS trusts earned more than £3 million in 2014/15 from charges, a further eight made more than £2 million a year, while a further 33 earned more than £1 million a year.

Almost half of all trusts also charged disabled people for parking in some or all of their disabled spaces.

The figures come after a Freedom of Information request by the Press Association.