A hospital pulled the plug on a patient's plan to avoid high television charges in his room.

When retired builder Cyril Holes was admitted to hospital for the third time this year, he decided to provide his own entertainment.

Fed up with paying £2.90 per day to use the TV at his bedside at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, Mr Holes brought along a portable TV.

He plugged in his headphones and settled down to watch the tiny set while he recovered from a stomach operation.

But after two days of uninterrupted viewing, he dismayed to be told to turn the TV off by a representative from Patientline, a private firm which provides bedside telephone and TV systems in four Sussex hospitals.

Mr Holes, 64, of Saunders Park View, Brighton, said: "The sister and nurses saw me watching the TV, but didn't say a word.

"Then one afternoon I was watching a programme about nuclear explosions when the Patientline woman appeared. She came over and told me to switch it off. She said I wasn't allowed my own TV because it was a breach of the contract her company has with the hospital to supply TVs. She said if I kept watching I could be prosecuted.

"I think its wrong that patients are forced to pay to use the Patientline TVs, as the fees can really add up after a few days. For poorer people they are unaffordable."

A spokeswoman for the hospital said patients are not allowed to plug in their own electrical appliances for health and safety reasons, as they may be faulty and could affect medical equipment.

However they can use battery-powered TVs and radios, as long as they do not disturb other patients.

Patientline, which has TV and phone systems installed in 75,000 hospital bedsides, has previously come under fire for the amount patients are charged to use its phone systems.

Last spring a plan was announced to increase the price of outgoing calls by 160 per cent from 10p to 26p a minute.

A few months later the firm back-tracked after patients protested, and the cost was returned to 10p.

The cost of watching television and using the internet via the Patientline system was also reduced from £3.50 a day to £2.90.

However the cost of calling to the bedside rose from 26p a minute to 39p off-peak and 49p at all other times.

In 2005, the firm was investigated by regulators over its charges, but was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, Eastbourne District General Hospital and Conquest Hospital in St Leonards all use Patientline, while Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust uses Hospicom.