Hospital Parking Charge - AIBU to think this is outrageous?

Ok calm down stop frothing! 🤣 (or did your finger get stuck on the '?'.

You see this kind of thing on the local news sites all the time. I'm sure you would happily watch your child writhing in agony for 40 minutes while you wait for a space to become available. Or perhaps drive to another carpark, which is a 20 minute walk away. OP wasn't 'taking a chance' she was doing the only thing she could.

There is clearly a huge problem with hospital car parking which needs to be highlighted.

Agree you absolutely did the right thing as a mother - a child with diabetes and appendicitis is an emergency. Well done you for using common sense. Sorry you lost your appeal

Gosh, people like to jump to conclusions just to try to put the boot in on here. So nasty.

Not agreeing with you doesn't make people nasty.

Not following rules does not make you hard done by.

You chanced it and it didn't work out OP. You weren't allowed to park there. Those are the rules. You did and got caught. Just pay it and move on, this won't end well for you and will cause unnecessary stress. It sucks, but be grateful your son is ok and if a similar thing happens next time, arrange alternative transport. You could order a taxi to your home as you are leaving the GP, with it arriving by the time you get there or shortly after.

You asked if you were being unreasonable and I gave my answer based on the information you gave, that is hardly putting the boot in! I have also been in a frustrating situation with hospital parking (having to pay a full new charge every 3 hours when I left to feed a 5 month old EBF baby at home whilst also being with a dying parent in the hospital). That would have totalled more than £70. I paid it and moved on as I had more important things to focus on.

I’d have parked exactly as you did op but I’d have paid the £70 fine immediately so it didn’t increase. You saw the double yellows and knew you shouldn’t park there so just accept the fine, pay it quick and be done with the stress.

My hospital is always jam packed, they created a new parking area underground which is brilliant except when my baby had a hospital appt, I went parked up, but the bays are super close together and every other bay has a pillar, the only spot o could find was between two car and a pillar. I could just about squeeze out, but couldn’t open the door even half way to take my baby out. I then realised when I take the pram out of the car, I will not be able to actually get out as the pillar is blocking me and all the cars are squashed together, not enough room to carry a pram out and besides can’t get my child out.
i ended up going home nd told the hospital im not attending as I can’t get my child out

Agree YABU. I appreciate this was a scary episode, but as others have said the majority of people in A&E are in a similar situation and if you were able to queue for reception for some time and your husband didn’t come until after he finished work 2 hours later it wasn’t acutely life threatening. I would have paid the fine initially as in comparison to being worried about DC it would pale into insignificance.

Yanbu

I got a parking ticket for being over my 3 hours on a double yellow (no 'no loading' sign) - parked right outside of the hospital

It makes me sick

Can you go to the press?

xx

Medical emergency as an exemption generally means when the car has to be stopped and left where it is because theres a medical emergency in the vehicle (eg. Driver is taken unwell) rather than someone chosing to park somewhere as part of a patient transport arrangement. So you’re likelihood of a successful appeal is low.

Double yellow lines exist for good reasons, and as other posters have pointed out - particularly in hospital grounds.

As you’ve acknowledged, there were other options available to you which were possible. Totally understandably not your preferred approach, but were possible.

Your fine has been passed to debt collectors because you chose to sulk rather than deal with it. That’s another consequence of a choice you made.

Totally understand your frustration but don’t think that it’s fair to say it’s unreasonable that has got to where it has.

I had a very similar situation with my husband when he had suspected appendicitis (later confirmed at A&E).

I called 111 from home but couldn't speak to anyone and had to request a call-back, so decided to drive him to our local A&E.

He was laid across the back of the car, vomiting into a bowl. When we arrived at the hospital, the only nearby parking was a multi-storey carpark. We drove in, all the way to the top; no spaces available at all, so then had to queue to leave the car park. Wasted 30 minutes and husband still in agony and vomiting.

In the end, I had to leave the car in a loading bay on the main road as there was literally no other option. My husband was too unwell to walk more than a few paces.

I was able to move the car around an hour later, but I just had to accept that if I'd received a ticket, or even been clamped, I would just have to pay the charge/release fee.

The priority was to get my husband into A&E. (His appendix was actually perforated by the time they took him into surgery, but that's another thread!).

I agree it's appalling that there are no options for parking when you're in an emergency situation like this. But I'm very grateful my husband could access emergency care when he needed it, and we would've just paid the parking penalty if necessary.

How long were you parked there, OP?

You are usually let off if you moved the car within an hour for exceptional circumstances based on a medical issue.

That’s not true anymore. They won the legal case about it. They have the precedent.

but double yellows are there for a reason - at hospitals usually access for emergency vehicles. Those blocked aren't going to say "oh, blue badge, ok we'll sit here until they get back, no worries."

I agree it is awful for OP, but i would have paid the immediate fine and thought myself lucky i could afford that and that my DC had been seen, tbh.

I got a parking ticket at my local hospital and appealed but lost and had to pay it. Then they introduced the machine where you put your registration in and I have received fines even though I have done it very carefully. I reckon they send out a ticket to everyone. Now I take a screenshot and a video of me entering the reg. Tbh I get a taxi now which is expensive but door to door and less stress.

Just pay it I think. It’s not worth all this drama and stress and it sounds like the ticket was correctly issued. Everyone parking at a hospital is there for one important reason or another. I would pay it and move on with my life and be cross with myself that this has all cost me an extra £100.

i would have done exactly that, then challenge the penalty charge.
but i would pay if i could afford it if they denied the challenge because fighting sometimes takes too much energy.

Hope your DC is ok now?

Parking at our local hospital was once free, but they eventually had to introduce charges, since the railway station is close by, and people were taking the piss.

It can be very hard to find a space, though. We are luckily walking distance, but I used to do voluntary patient transport and it could take ages to find a blue badge (or any) space, when the patient needed assistance, and so couldn’t just be dropped off.

You put your child first, quite rightly.

Most hospitals seem to have inadequate parking (albeit private ones I've been referred to by the NHS seem to do better).

I have no issue with the NHS charging for parking but they should use the money to provide better parking and more of it. Most people going to a hospital do not need the stress of driving around for ages and usually cannot manage to walk from other car parks in the area.

Contact her local paper for what exactly????Oh yes, for parking illegally, getting a ticket, refusing to pay and incurring penalty charges. What do you think the local paper should do?

Whilst it’s unfortunate and frustrating the OP took a chance on parking where she shouldn’t have. Yes it was a medical emergency but so are most cases that present to A&E.

Is it a private company? Like Euro Car Parks? I’ve read that you don’t have to pay those and they will leave you alone eventually but best to check that.

But where does it end?

Parking on zig zags
Leaving car blocking road

Do we grade the emergency situation?
A suspected appendix is not an immediate life or death as shown by the fact you could queue for 30 minutes for the receptionist

Problem is people always think that their situation is special enough to not follow the rules, if everyone did this it would be carnage.

Despite what I've said I understand why you parked there, but you should have just paid the £70. You took the risk.

Hope your DC is recovering well.

Not on private land. This is made quite clear in the paperwork you receive with your blue badge.