How I got a ticket just for being sick

I knew there would be a wait - and I didn't mind that. NHS staff try their hardest to deliver, but I was there just for a pep talk, explanations, blood tests and form filling, so I expected to be seen after the more urgent cases. What I didn't expect, and no one should, is that I would still be there three hours after my appointment time, nursing a growing dread that my car would be clamped as they warn in fearsome notices in hospital car parks these days.

How many readers have been through exactly this experience? You cannot rush out and put more money into the expensive meters because they could call you any minute. The car park is 10 minutes away from the ward. The receptionists are non-committal. Go and pay more if you need to and hope for the best. Eventually I took the chance and ran to the car, a minute before the time expired. Got a new ticket, paid another £5, ran back, and got back into the queue.

When I returned to the car after being seen by excellent doctors and sweet nurses, a warden had left a calling card, a penalty charge notice demanding an £80 fine. I cannot describe the rage I felt - it brought hot tears to my eyes.

It isn't just the money, though I would rather give mine to Oxfam than have it snatched by the borough of Hammersmith & Fulham. It is the fact that outpatients who have no control over appointment times and so feel fragile and helpless are thus punished. I saw several other cars with that venomous plastic envelope. An old man in a flat cap was banging his fist on the bonnet and almost crying, too. He had a blue disability badge but had mistakenly turned the wrong side to the window.

We asked a warden how they justify these notices. Did she think we were partying or watching movies? She was sympathetic and suggested: "Write a letter. I hear the same story all the time; everyone's too late today." You can't blame her; she's only doing her job. Blame the unutterably greedy and immoral councils who officially mug the sick to fill their coffers.

It is surely time to rise against this street crime. I will not be paying the fine. None of you should either.