YORK Hospital patients won’t know whether to groan or cheer today. We have all been braced for work to start on the new 420-space hospital car park, in the knowledge that while it is being built it will be virtually impossible to park there.

Hospital bosses even took the unusual step of asking patients not to drive to the hospital if they could avoid it during the work, expected to last almost a year.

The disruption would be worth it, they said – because ultimately it would mean an end to the hospital’s chronic parking problems.

Now, out of the blue, they have revealed the £5 million car park has been shelved – the latest victim of the credit crunch.

Developers APCOA Parking are said to have been forced to reconsider their funding options because of the economic situation.

Those who use the hospital regularly may be tempted to heave a sigh of relief. At least the short-term pain of the redevelopment has been delayed.

But this is still dreadful news.

For more than a decade now, the hospital has been struggling to resolve its parking problems.

The last thing you need, when you’re unwell and rushing to make a hospital appointment, is to find yourself stuck with nowhere to park.

The shortage of spaces means that long queues in Wigginton Road are a regular sight. And, quite apart from the stress and worry caused to patients and relatives, the cost to the NHS itself of missed or late appointments must be considerable.

The very viability of the hospital site is called into question if patients cannot get there.

A spokesperson stressed today that hospital bosses remained fully committed to the scheme and were in regular contact with the developers. So they should be. This mess has dragged on for far too long.