CANCER patient 81-year-old David Ville was dismayed to get a letter issuing an £85 parking fine for parking at Chippenham Hospital - even though he had asked the receptionist to register his car on the machine to make sure he got it right.

Mr Ville, from Malmesbury, who has prostate cancer and arthritis, had an appointment two weeks ago, and says he parked for around 25 minutes.

“I called the receptionist and she registered the car for us, and for the people behind me,” he said.

But to no avail - on Thursday last week a letter arrived from Civil Enforcement Ltd demanding an £85 parking penalty. Mr Ville, whose wife Shirley also suffers ill health, said: “I am disgusted. I have never had this before.”

In January a spokesman for the Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said they were working with the car parking team to avoid unnecessary distress to patients. He said: "This system was introduced to avoid non-hospital users from using the free parking offered to avoid local parking charges.”