Hospital bosses have been warned against "fleecing patients unfairly" after MPs said high car parking charges had become a serious concern.

The Government issued the warning in response to a report by the House of Commons health committee.

The committee had called for hospital parking fees to be scrapped for patients attending on a daily basis and season tickets introduced for frequent visitors.

In March, The Argus revealed that hospitals in Sussex raked in more than £1.5 million from parking fees in the year to April 2005.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals collected £447,000 in parking charges in 2004/5, East Sussex Hospitals charged £648,000 and Royal West Sussex £520,000.

Worthing and Southlands netted the most cash at £650,000, while West Sussex Health and Social Care received £5,342.

Nationally, hospitals charged £78 million for the use of their car parks, £63 million was paid by visitors and £15 million by their own hospital staff.

In their highly-critical report, published yesterday, MPs branded the system of NHS charges, including fees for using hospital telephones, a "complete mess".

They said charges for prescriptions, dentistry and eye tests had developed without any "comprehensive, underlying principles", causing them to be "full of anomalies".

Their report urged the Government to launch a review into alternatives including the option of abolishing all health charges.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "We will study the recommendations of this report very carefully. We are committed to NHS treatment remaining free at the point of delivery.

"We think hospitals should continue to be able to charge for parking but trusts should not fleece patients unfairly."

Health Minister Andy Burnham, speaking yesterday during Health Questions in the Commons, said car parking was a big issue for the public, something which NHS trust management did not always appreciate.

Although the level of parking charges was a matter for local health trusts, Mr Burnham urged managers to "see if they can provide better support for patients who are in a difficult time of their lives".