A FURORE over parking problems at Heartlands Hospital has forced bosses to change their policy.

Dozens of visitors of all ages had to queue for hours in the cold last month when both parking meters at the Bordesley Green hospital broke down.

But rather than waiving the fee, security guards made motorists pay one by one in the security office as their boss worked out how much each person owed.

Following a stack of complaints and inquiries by the Birmingham Mail hospital bosses have pledged that if the same happens again, visitors will be allowed to leave without paying.

Collette Young, from Harborne, who was visiting her ill mother at the hospital on January 24 when the machines broke down, said: "It was a ridiculous situation. The visiting session had just finished so the car park was full of people about to leave but both parking machines were broken.

"There were all sorts of people, including the elderly and children,

standing in the cold and instead of just lifting the barrier the security staff made everyone wait, for more than an hour in some cases, to pay by hand.

"It just didn't make sense and made visitors more angry, especially as a lot of people were already distressed from seeing a loved one ill and many don't agree with having to pay for parking at a hospital anyway."

A Heartlands Hospital spokeswoman

said the problem had been looked into by senior staff.

She added: "The parking meters at Heartlands Hospital temporarily broke down due to a mechanical failure.

"We are very sorry that people had to wait to pay their parking fees and apologise for this.

"Should this happen again in the future people will not have to wait and the barriers will be automatically lifted."