PROPOSALS which could see parking cameras installed at Furness General Hospital have been slammed by the man who will represent the Labour Party at the next General Election.

Chris Altree said it was 'ridiculous' patients and staff have to pay to park their cars at hospitals and called on trust bosses to put the brakes on the plans.

This comes after bosses at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust revealed they were considering installing cameras on the car parks to tackle misuse.

Mr Altree said: “Firstly I’m for free car parking for staff and which is something Labour has promised.

“I think it’s ridiculous that patients and and staff should have to pay for parking at the hospital.

“People who work at hospitals are trying to save lives, they shouldn’t have to worry about getting a parking fine whilst at work.

“They should only have to worry about doing their job and helping people.

“I also want to see the parking expanded at the hospital.

“I’ve been speaking to residents in the surrounding areas who are frustrated at people parking in the streets outside their homes.

“I think there are all sorts of issues with the parking cameras.”

Frustrations about limited parking have been growing for a number of years.

Plans to create more spaces have been repeatedly put back since 2017.

Foluke Ajayi, chief operating officer of University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT), said: “We are looking at a number of different schemes for each of our hospital sites.

“Amongst these options we are also looking at the feasibility of introducing a system called Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) which has been used with success elsewhere.

“There are lots of myths around ANPR, such as penalty payments and how long people can overstay, we have not made any final decisions to implement any solution, but if it was implemented the penalty charges and process would be for the trust to agree with a contractor.”