MY husband is classed disabled and we have a Blue Badge so we can park near hospital doors or shops.

Usually, when he attends the Eye Hospital I go shopping, to save paying parking charges.

This week, the weather forecast was bad, so we parked in the new car park, near the entrance. We had to obtain a ticket from the barrier in order to enter the car park, so we realised we'd have to pay. When we came back to the very poorly signed ticket meter, we had to ask a nurse where the machine was, it showed we owed £3.20p and the machine took coins, but no credit car, or £5 or £10 notes. I promptly put £2, £1 + 20p coins in, only to find £2 & £1 were rejected. I tried twice more, then the ticket came back out as not paid. I hunted for other coinage and found four 50pence pieces, so I put £1, 20p and four 50ps in and 2 50[s were rejected! By this time a queue had formed as other people wanted to get home. I tried the 50ps once again, and this time the machine accepted them, thank goodness.

I apologised to the people in the queue and said 'watch the machine, it is not accepting the coins properly'. One lady, in the queue, promptly told me 'it has not been working properly for over a week!'

I will mean I will go shopping in the future as I don't need that hassle.

I feel sure folk have reported it, if it has been like that for sometime, but why are Boue Badge holders charged anyway?

My husband can be there up to three hours at a time and I noticed a lot of people were elderly or disabled. Several in wheelchairs etc. The hospital must make a lot of money from the Eye Department alone.

MW CRANFIELD, Hythe, Southampton.