A health trust has reversed its policy to start charging customers to park at car boot sales held by a charity thought to have raised millions for a hospital, after the Guardian highlighted the issue.

The Whipps Cross Hospital League of Friends has provided the cash to buy equipment including an ultrasound scanner and a defribrillator in the last year, mainly from income derived from its monthly car boot sales held in a car park of the Leytonstone hospital.

It collects money from refreshments and fees for traders to set up there and donates it to Whipps.

But the group was astonished on Saturday when staff handed out flyers warning people turning up to the sale that they would now be charged to park.

The League claims that an informal agreement with the hospital meant that no car boot sale customers have had to pay to park for the last 28 years.

However, Bart’s Health Trust, which took charge of Whipps following a merger in 2012, decided to start charging people upwards of £2.50, and the League claimed many customers turned around and drove away.

The decision came as a surprise despite months of discussions between the League and the trust, which the League claims were not resolved one way or the other.

But now a trust spokeswoman has said: “We are pleased to confirm that there are no plans to charge the League of Friends for parking at their regular car-boot sales.

“We have looked at this again and established that the League has not had to pay for parking in the past and should not have to do so now.

“We greatly value the work they do for our Trust and hope we can continue to work beneficially together in the future.”

League chairperson Brenda Fone said: “That's great news, but why couldn't they do that first of all? They didn't want the bad publicity from the Guardian.

"But why should it have to come to that?"

Trader Cyril Smith, 79, who has sold items at the sales for years, added: “It’s marvellous. But I’m more than surprised. The Guardian has stepped in and the trust has changed its story.

“It would have been a terrible loss for the hospital with all the donations the League collected, so I’m really happy at how it’s turned out.”

Whipps charges patients up to £15 for 24 hours on site parking, the same as King George Hospital in Goodmayes, and compared to £18 for more than 12 hours at Queen's Hospital in Romford.

A Bart's spokeswoman said: "Any revenue we get from patients parking is ploughed back into hospital services for patients."