[Osem]

Like pensioners, not all carers are low paid or badly off but there's no doubt many are and often make a very great sacrifice in terms of their own lives, careers and relationships. It's not an easy problem to solve however because with land being so expensive, space at a premium and parking under such pressure, something has to be done to prevent abuse of the system. Sadly there's also a proportion of carers who also abuse the system by, for example, misusing blue badges.

I recently saw a programme about the parking problems at a large hospital in Wales. As Taf mentioned, the chaos which has ensued after charges were abolished has to be seen to be believed and even staff are routinely being fined because all the available spaces are taken, all too often by people who aren't even visiting the place. As usual the problem is often down to selfish inconsiderate people who couldn't care less about anyone else.