A HEALTH trust has lost tens of thousands of pounds after hospital parking meters were out-of-action for more than a month

Patients visiting the Horton General Hospital, in Banbury, have been enjoying free parking after the site’s metres could not accept the new £1 coin.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) runs the car parks at the Horton as well as the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and the money taken from paying patients goes back into services at the hospitals.

Usually visitors would have to fork out between £1.40 for an hour or up to £7 for more than four hours every day.

With around 200 parking spaces across the six car parks for the Horton, the trust could be losing around £1,365 every day or £9,555 every week the machines have been out of action.

And it is expected that the free parking signs and machine covers will be up for a further 10 days.

Kaelum Neville, a spokesman for the trust, said: “Following the introduction of the new £1 coin, the trust has gone through a process of upgrading its parking machines to ensure a smooth transition for patients who travel to our hospitals by car.

“Unfortunately, we have been unable to complete this process at the Horton General Hospital in the timeframe we had originally hoped.

“Therefore, since mid-June, we have temporarily suspended the parking charges at the Horton General Hospital to ensure there is no inconvenience to our patients.

“We aim to have the issue resolved in the very near future.”

Keep the Horton General campaign leader Keith Strangwood said the out-of-action machines was great news for the paying public but not for the trust’s budget.

He added: “They are not on their own, it is happening all over the place.

“But it does make me wonder if it is part of their overall plan to turn the site into a new development.

“If they are not investing to upgrade the machines, it makes me think they want to develop on the site.

“It would not surprise me if they are delaying on purpose to see what happens on August 10.”

Next month Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) will make a final decision on the first phase of plans to change the county’s NHS as a way of streamlining services to address a growing financial shortfall of £134m and the needs of an ageing population.

In the first phase, the CCG proposes to continue to downgrade the maternity services at the Horton to midwife-led status.