PATIENTS are abandoning cars on grass verges as they struggle to find spaces at the new Oxford Cancer Centre, it has been claimed.

According to patients and visitors to the centre, at the Churchill Hospital in Headington, people are leaving cars in undesignated spaces and outside parking zones due to insufficient provision.

Labour county councillor Liz Brighouse noticed the problem when she dropped off a friend for treatment at the centre a few weeks ago.

She said: “We arrived in plenty of time, but I was driving around and around desperately trying to find a space.

“In the end, so she didn’t miss her appointment, I had to drop her as close as I could to the entrance and she had to walk a significant distance while I carried on looking for a space. It’s ridiculous.”

Mary Perrett, 87, from Kidlington, arrived for an appointment with her daughter and son-in-law, but took 45 minutes to find a space.

She said: “Eventually we found one after my son-in-law lay in wait for someone to pull out, but you would think it’s a car factory up there.

“I’ve never seen so many cars. They were parked on the verges, all over the place.”

Ms Brighouse added: “It’s not just that there’s nowhere to park.

“There are more cars coming into the area and the roads can’t take the number of cars.

“They didn’t take into account the local infrastructure when building the new centre.”

The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust said the number of spaces for the Churchill site is approximately 1,300, and the amount of people using the new centre, compared to the old Churchill, had not “significantly” increased.

Mervyn Phipps, assistant director of estates and facilities, said improvements were still being made to parking facilities on site.

He said: “The centre has not increased significantly the number of patients or visitors coming to the site as the majority of services relocated from the old Churchill into the new facilities.

“We will never be able to provide an unlimited number of car parking spaces so we try to ensure they are available for those that have no other choice. We always try to encourage patients and visitors, where possible, to use alternative means when reaching our hospital sites.

“This includes the newly revised No. 700 Water Eaton Park-and-Ride service which has now extended to the Churchill Hospital as well as the John Radcliffe.

“This service will start on July 13 and will provide a cheaper, quicker and more convenient way of reaching both Headington hospitals.”

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk