To not pay hospital parking fine

[StupidFine]

Last week Dd (8 months) suffered an allergic reaction and was taken to the hospital. DH followed in the car and parked without paying (we live on the border and our usual hospital is in Scotland where parking is free, but this is our first emergency and we were taken to the nearest hospital which is in England). Either way the last thing on DH mind was the bleeding parking.

Thankfully Dd was ok, but a week later DH and I are reflecting on what to do about the parking fine. Our options as we see them are:

A) pay the fine and draw a line under this incident (£40).
B) contest the fine as it was an emergency and we have a hospital note with time and reason for admission (if contest is denied fine will go up to £80 as takes 35 days to review).
C) don't pay and just ignore the fine. A colleague of mine said as we live in Scotland we don't need to tell the parking company who was driving (apparently this loophole was closed in England) and since they don't know who was driving it's very costly/time consuming and not worth the company's effort to raise a case to claim the fine.

My head says to go for option A) as I don't want things like this hanging over our head. But my heart says option C) as it's ridiculous anyone should need to pay for parking at a hospital and the fine is just an arbitrary number pulled out of the company's backside (not quite but you get the point).

WWYD?

Pay up. That's how English hospitals cling on.

£40 for that level of treatment is cheap.

And the taxes argument is lame. I don't have kids, should I get a refund on the schools they don't use? Of course not.

But a huge percentage of people visiting a hospital are going there to receive treatment. I don't get why your argument stands. Should no one who receives treatment of any form have to pay for parking?

In an ideal world we wouldn't have to pay to park at a hospital but given the current financial status of the NHS its just one of those things that everyone has to do. Most staff have to pay. Yes, a pay on leave system is much better - especially because hospital appointments can overrun so much - but still, parking at most hospitals costs money, so people have to pay whatever the reason.

specialsubject how is the taxes argument lame given that's how we pay for public services? Children are the future tax payers which will be paying for your treatments/free bus passes etc when you're old and falling to pieces so if anything it's your argument that's lame.

Xuli agree it should absolutely be a pay on leave system, that way not only do people in emergencies not get caught out, but people actually pay for the time they use. Pay and display parking recoups significantly more money than the time that's been used. It wouldn't surprise me if at peak times spaces have been effectively paid for twice as many people pay for far more time than is needed.

We did pay actually.

You paid after the event. You were fined for the time that you didn’t pay.

Like I said earlier DS2 is a 3rd year student nurse. His current placement is A&E. He darent take his car in because he very rarely finishes on time and as he has to pay for parking he would be fined too. As he’s working for free he can’t afford to pay parking charges, let alone fines.

So the irony is DH paid for parking on return from the supermarket

I don't see how this can justify anything?

If you park In a car park and then leave and return you are expected to pay again for the second visit.

Like I said earlier DS2 is a 3rd year student nurse. His current placement is A&E. He darent take his car in because he very rarely finishes on time and as he has to pay for parking he would be fined too. As he’s working for free he can’t afford to pay parking charges, let alone fines.

Obviously, your son is able to use public transport or cycle/walk though. The sick and vulnerable are less able as are people who need to attend hospital in an emergency such as a parent following in an ambulance to hospital in a life or death situation. Anyway, two wrongs don't make a right.

Your DH arrived alone in the car, he was therefore a visitor.
The hospital was probably full of people visiting and they all had to pay if they used the car park, your DH is no different so pay up

OP - should I pay for a fine that I incurred?

99% of posters - of course you should

OP - waaaah, but it's "heathy" to challenge The Man and I'm Scottish so English laws shouldn't apply to ME.

Just pay your fine!

Option B of course. Especially, if you send a copy of the ticket your DH purchased, which shows that he bought a ticket as soon as dd was safely in hospital.

I've contested a few tickets and won a few. The ones I didn't win, I was just asked to pay the original fine, not the doubled fee.

Is it a council car park or a private company?

Just pay it. The NHS gives you free care and is on its knees. Why do you think your situation is any different to anyone else's in a hospital?!

The relevance of the taxes argument is that they would be higher if hospitals had to provide free parking. Plus income tax in Scotland is paid to the Scottish government.

I do agree that pay and display is wrong for a hospital car park.

Ours has it right I think. You pay on leaving and you can get it validated (when we took DS in and he needed urgent treatment we got a voucher to use for the parking so we did not have to pay) but not sure the circumstances in which you get it (I know you do if you stay overnight on the childrens ward and have parked for example).

I do think they need to charge simply to stop people using it as a free carpark: our hospital is walking distance to the town and station and I know people would use it as commuters.

You also get the first 30 mins free so you can use it to collect

But yours did not so you do have to pay: to be honest Pay and Display is pretty obvious, his DD was being treated and with her mother (and presumably stablisied with the ambulance) so really he could have noticed.

If he had been driving you in - yes I think you could challenge

I'd challenge it op. I wouldn't pay up unless I really had to.

An ambulance trip alone costs about £250 by the way. You're quids in. Quit your griping!

Got out of bed the wrong side today Rebecca? you're sounding pretty pathetic yourself.

Think I'll go option B) and challenge this parking charge and see what comes of it.

Good choice, OP. Most people accept undue punishment like sheep. The system expects you to challenge unfair fines, that's why they have a tribunal at councils for parking fines FFS!

If every fine was legitimate, they wouldn't need a tribunal.

Come back and update us when you win

Who's arse has she been licking? It's clearly given her a potty mouth

Ignore OP

Hi OP
Glad your LO is fine again.
Yes it's very wrong to have to pay.at our hospital even the staff have to pay.
For peace of mind I'd pay it because sometimes they add all these charges on and before you know it the bill has more than doubled.
But once you've paid,if it still rankled you could try for a refund using the note from the ward.
Good Luck

Rebecca it’s not a fine! It’s a “charge”.

If I sound pathetic to someone who thinks you don't have to pay for what you do, that's just fine by me, novo

We picked up a ticket in Spain, not realising we had parked in a metered bay. The penalty notice said that a fine of x euros would be payable, but it would be waived if we just put what we should have paid into the meter. Job done, no enforcement or appeal necessary. How much more sensible is that?