ISLE of Wight Council has been slammed for charging a health centre money after some of its patients parked on a green.

So many elderly patients turned up to St Helens Health Centre for free flu jabs, that some cars were parked on St Helens Green.

Though it is common land, it is administered by the council's Wight Leisure organisation that has a policy of charging whenever the green is used for public parking.

The decision to levy the £18 charge to a health centre for providing a free flu jab has angered St Helens Parish Council.

"Why should we pay Wight Leisure £18 for a public service?'' said Cllr Brian Williams, council chairman.

Member Mike Anderson said: "A health centre is trying to provide a free service to its patients and should not be charged."

Alex Minns, operations manager at Wight Leisure, defended the charge. He said: "This is classed as an amenity land hire and involves a large amount of administration. We have to book the event in the diary to ensure it does not clash with anything else. We then need to get details of the organiser's public liability insurance to ensure they are covered, and finally we send out an inspector after the event to see whether there are any reinstatement costs as we manage the land.

"We don't make any money from the £18, it doesn't cover all the costs,'' he said.