I have just emailed the following to a Canterbury newspaper.
Hi
I was wondering if you would be interested in running a piece on the rules that state that disabled blue badge holders must buy a ticket if they are forced to use an ordinary parking space.
Unaware of the rules that changed in 2006 stating the above, I recently parked in an ordinary space when attending a Complex Neuro-disability appointment for my 11 year old disabled son (R) at the Kent and Canterbury hospital. This is one of many such appointments I regularly attend with him.
There are nowhere near enough disabled spaces at the K&C but unlike the council, who will allow Blue Badge holders to park in any available space without charging them, this NHS car park employs its own parking wardens who patrol the car parks giving tickets to disabled drivers who have been forced, by lack of provision, to use a normal space.
They clearly expect people with seriously compromised mobility, to park wherever they can (this could be a long way from the part of the hospital they need to be in), make their way to one of the widely spaced ticket machines, pay the fee (much higher than council car parking fees) and take it all the way back to their car before making their way back to eg. outpatients.
My son has a cerebral palsy-type condition casued by a chromosome deletion and has many complex needs including violent challenging behaviour. He attends (the) (special) school just down the road from the hospital. I use his blue badge all the time to make the business of parking and getting him out of the car and into his wheelchair (a trigger point for aggression for him) a little bit less problematic than it would be otherwise. For the NHS of all people, to refuse to recognise why we need these concessions is really quite disgusting.
On the occasion above, I returned to our car after the appointment to find I'd got a parking ticket. I disputed it, sending photo copies of my son's blue badge which had been clearly on display on the dash board. (This was on the 25th Aug). This week I got a response on NHS headed notepaper from Nick Doe, Parking Services Manager, based at the QEQM Hospital in Margate, telling me my appeal has not been upheld because the "notice was correctly issued" being as I was "parked in a pay and display area without displaying a valid ticket". It then gave a description of the rules that have been in place since 2006 and suggested I familiarise myself with the Trust's website and in particular a section called "How To Access Our Hospitals".
The letter then stated that I have until the 20th September to pay my £15 fine or else it will be passed to a debt recovery company acting for the Trust.
Well perhaps Mr Nick Doe, who obviously will know the How To Access Our Hospitals article by heart, would like to take my son (R) to an appointment during a busy weekday afternoon,. He obviously will not be chronically tired and sleep deprived from the never-ending effects of coping with his child's complex needs nor will he have needed to juggle his working hours yet again in order to get to the appointment. So perhaps he will handle it better than me when he finds that once again there are no disabled spaces left, ANYWHERE in ANY of the K&C car parks that patients and visitors are allowed to use at this hospital. It would be interesting to see how he copes parking miles away from the Children Assessment Centre, getting the wheelchair out of the car in a normal space, trying not to scratch the car parked closely in the next space, getting scratched, bitten and clobbered over the head by (R) during the transfer and then having to go and find a ticket machine with (R) violently protesting all the way, paying a (not small) sum to park, after perhaps having to queue, then retracing his steps with (R) still protesting, place the ticket, and STILL get to the (much needed) appointment on time! I would be very very interested to see how efficiently Mr Nick Doe achieved this!
Given the opportunity, I would like to say to Mr Doe that Blue Badges exist for a reason. We have them because we have fulfilled a criteria and these NHS rules pay no heed to them whatsoever. WHY? I would very much like this situation to be addressed and attend to bring it as much attention as possible until it is.
If you are interested in this or need more info, or a photo of (R) please don't hesitate to contact me. My mob no is (supplied) but I am more easily contactable by email during my working week. We live in (nearly town), by the way.
Sincerely
JarOfHearts