The Coventry Telegraph has won its campaign for car parking charges for disabled people to be scrapped at the city’s new superhospital.

Free parking for disabled drivers with blue badges is to be laid out near to the main entrance at University Hospital at Walsgrave, after more than 6,000 readers signed a Telegraph petition.

They objected after charges of up to £9 a day were introduced, and the Telegraph called on hospital managers to make parking for the disabled free.

Reporting the turnaround, the Telegraph said: “Those who make money from Coventry’s new superhospital have shown decency in scrapping parking charges for disabled people.

“Profiteering from people in wheelchairs is disgraceful.

“It’s a victory for this newspaper and its readers, and we are proud to have led a campaign to have these despicable charges scrapped.

“But it is unbelievable that the charges were imposed in the first place.”

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust had said it was bound by a contract with the private finance companies which built the hospital to charge for every parking space, even disabled spots.

The Telegraph says the campaign has been one of its most successful ever, with support flooding in from MPs, disabled rights groups, trade unions and welfare organisations as well as readers.