‘I paid for my ticket to see my dying dad, but now the NHS could take me to court’

Parking near Royal Oldham Hospital has been labelled an ‘absolute nightmare’, in which people say they struggle to leave the house as cars take over the pavement.

Dr Zahid Chauhan OBE, a GP and Labour Alexandra councillor, said Oldham was running ‘a system that penalises patients and staff’ compared to ‘the gold standard’ at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust where zero fines or warning notices were issued. He and other campaigners are calling on the government ‘to take action to address what is increasingly becoming a postcode lottery’.

He said: “It’s shocking but also reassuring because we can see things can be done in a different way. What we needed to prove to the public and stakeholders is there is no reason things are this way. It’s not that we are asking for something new that has never been done before.”

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Manchester Evening News, 19th May 2026