WH Smith has been slammed by shoppers after someone spotted a single tube of toothpaste in a hospital shop for the princely sum of £7.99.
As the store was based in Pinderfields General Hospital in Wakefield, people soon began accusing the company of cashing in on the sick by hiking up the prices - as you can get the very same 75ml toothpaste from Tesco for 80p, which works out as 898 percent cheaper. It can also be found in Boots for just a quid.
Mark Leaf, 45, visited the shop on Thursday to buy some toothpaste for his girlfriend, a patient at the hospital, when he made the discovery.
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Accusing the shop of 'extortion', he said: "Everything in there is totally ridiculous.
"A hospital is a place where people to to get better. They aren't at their best and are usually at their most vulnerable.
"It's the last place they should be taken advantage of, but this price tag is just totally taking the mick out of people.
"It's £7.99 for a tube of toothpaste that I've seen for a £1 in a Home Bargains store or a pound shop."
He continued: "When I was there, I looked around, and there are a lot of people knocking about who are less fortunate than others.
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"It's absolutely outrageous. I went to the counter and asked the assistant 'is this right?' and they said it was.
"I was gobsmacked. It's extortion. They are cashing in on sick people who can't go elsewhere.
"Something needs to be done about it.
"In the end I went for the tiny little travel size one and it was £2.69. That's still ridiculous."
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WH Smith has 610 shops on the high street and 839 travel outlets in airports, railway stations, motorway service areas, hospitals and workplaces - of these, 129 are in hospitals.
The extortionate price tag was brought to people's attention by a reporter at the Health Service Journal, who wrote about it on Twitter.
One of the replies on the social media site read: "They've been warned just a couple years ago for price gouging. If that isn't an accidental mistake then they need fined."
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Another added: "I assume that buys you a check up and polish too for that money."
Another said: "Please tell me this isn't true.
"Absolutely horrible to think the cost of a product vital to oral health is spiked because someone is unwell in a hospital.
"This should be provided on wards regardless."
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Birmingham Live reports that a spokesman for WH Smith said: "We would like to apologise to our customers for a recent pricing error in our system relating to this product.
"While the wrong price was effective we sold a total of 89 units.
"The total proceeds from these sales (£711) will be donated to charity. The error has been rectified and changed to the correct price of £2.49."
The company also added that all of the products sold in its hospital stores are the same price as those in high street branches.
Featured Image Credit: SWNS