RECRUITMENT consultant Andrew Pope accuses a hospital of a lack of security after saying he found a tramp sleeping in a doorway and his car stereo was stolen.

Mr Pope, 28, of Woodside Avenue, Flackwell Heath, wrote a letter to the Bucks Free Press Midweek expressing his concern about security at the Wycombe Hospital car park, which he claims is "darker, more remote and less frequently used in the dark than other car parks in the vicinity, such as the Wycombe Swan."

In his letter, Mr Pope described how his car was broken into when he visited the hospital between 7.30pm and 10pm on Monday, April 27, with his wife Judy, who is seven months pregnant. The couple were attending ante-natal classes at the maternity unit.

Building work at the car park meant that Mr Pope had to park his car out of sight of the hospital's main entrance, and walk a long distance with his wife to and from the maternity unit.

He said: "When we attended the ante-natal class we found an unmanned reception area and a tramp dossing down for the night in the doorway.

"A lot of visitors to the hospital are likely to be either pregnant, old, frail or infirm and more vulnerable to attack by muggers, rapists and other assorted criminals. Does the hospital not have a duty of care towards the patients?"

A spokesman for Wycombe Hospital denied the car park was vulnerable to crime, but said: "We do take every instance seriously and we will be looking into this in some detail."

A spokesman for Chiltern Vale area police said: "We constantly analyse figures in order to identify areas which are hotspots for crime. The hospital car park has not been a particular problem."

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