THE NHS has said it may expand a community hospital car park at the centre of a controversial fight for space.

Marcham Road Health Centre in Abingdon put up an £8,000 barrier to half of the car park it shares with Abingdon Community Hospital last month.

The health centre said hospital patients and people not using either facility were taking up its patients’ spaces.

Anyone now using the health centre’s car park illegitimately will be fined £25.

Now Oxford Health, which manages the hospital, said it is looking into its own solution to the problem.

Spokesman Justinian Habner said: “At many of the trust’s sites, including Abingdon Community Hospital, demand for car parking exceeds capacity so plans and options are being looked at in order to manage the trust’s car parking provision and access.”

The health centre, which has just over 40 parking bays, said it was protecting spaces specifically for its patients.

The hospital has 114 parking spaces.

Dr Michael Robertson, from the health centre, said: “One space occupied for eight hours during the working day prevents at least 20 patients from using that space to park while they visit our surgery. We could see no other way of protecting our patients’ interests.”