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Original poster

To not pay hospital parking fine

478 replies

StupidFine · 09/01/2018 08:19

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?

OP posts:
NineFortySixPM · 09/01/2018 08:44

As I see it your argument will be flawed because it wasn’t an emergency was it - by which I mean your DH was in the car alone so your DD who was the emergency wasn’t with him. And that would mean that parking would require paying for. Unless I’ve misunderstood the set up.

I do see exactly how it happened and as most have said it’s a shame, but I don’t see how you can avoid paying unfortunately. Glad your DD was ok though.

missyB1 · 09/01/2018 08:45

I work in a hospital. Challenge the fine as you may not have to pay, don’t automatically pay up, why pay £40 when you may not have to?

Oh and please don’t assume all hospitals make money out of parking. In our hospital the private firm running the parking reap all the profits.

DontCallMeJohnBoy · 09/01/2018 08:47

Birth partners of labouring women also have to get the car to a parking space and pay, hoping to be back before the birth. At our hospital BPs get a 30 minute parking permit for outside the labour ward to drop off or pick up but then have to shift the car and pay to park like anyone else.

AnathemaPulsifer · 09/01/2018 08:50

From link above: ‘In Scotland, patients’ associations have complained that car parks at many hospitals, made free in 2008, are so permanently full that some people have had to leave their vehicle a 15-minute walk away – thus missing appointments. In Wales, which also has free parking, one hospital had to build a new multistorey car park and employ an external contractor to enforce rules. Without fees to cover the costs, this is money that could otherwise be spent on patient care.

This is a vital point. Parking is never free – parking without a charge is merely a subsidy to the motorist, and it can be a significant one. Donald Shoup, a US economist with a long-standing fascination with parking, has calculated that in 12 US cities the average construction cost for an above-ground parking space is about £18,000, several times the average net worth of an African-American family.

This is the other key point – free parking is fundamentally regressive, a subsidy to people who tend to be richer than average. Many politicians, and newspapers, see the car as the default travel choice for everyone, and of course if you’re outside a town or city, often dreadful public transport means a motor vehicle might be your only means of getting to the nearest hospital.

But this ignores the fact that the poorer you are, the less likely you are to drive. Government statistics show that in the lowest income quintile, 44% of English households have no access to a car, with about a third of the second-lowest band facing the same situation. In the top income quintile, just 12% are car-less, with about half owning two or more.’

JCo24 · 09/01/2018 08:51

Rebecca

Surely that only applies if they run their own parking. All the hospital parking around my area are not run by the hospital but they are able to give you a huge discount if you are an inpatient/ your child is an inpatient

Personwithhorse · 09/01/2018 08:51

I had the same when a relation was in, I just paid. I think hospital parking charges were brought in because many people were using the car parks when shopping or even for work - so patients could not park.

Perhaps if the NHS were more organised they could issue people with tickets so they did not have to pay - like John Lewis. In fact if the JL management were let lose on the NHS perhaps it would be more efficient and cost less!

Tawdrylocalbrouhaha · 09/01/2018 08:51

I'd pay it. If you think of the true cost of an emergency paediatric admission, £40 is just nothing.

mindutopia · 09/01/2018 08:53

Personally, I would just pay it. I think it's within your rights to contest (assuming you really do have a note from the hospital), but I don't think it's worth the hassle and I'd rather not risk having to pay double.

user789653241 · 09/01/2018 08:53

We have been to A&E many times and always paid. I can understand that your dh didn't at the time, but could have paid after he found out she was ok?

Dungeondragon15 · 09/01/2018 08:54

Birth partners of labouring women also have to get the car to a parking space and pay, hoping to be back before the birth. At our hospital BPs get a 30 minute parking permit for outside the labour ward to drop off or pick up but then have to shift the car and pay to park like anyone else.

They let DH off a fine for that as I had a quick labour and he would have needed to desert me during the birth to move the car.

TalkinPeace · 09/01/2018 08:57

I'd be considerably less narked about paying for hospital parking if it actually went to the NHS!
It goes to the individual hospital.

SquirmOfEels · 09/01/2018 08:59

Challenge, but pay up if the outcome goes against you.

What would the cost have been if he had paid regularly on the day? Pay that anyhow (obviously zero if you are in a qualifying category for that hospital - that'll be clinical need (eg ours gives free permits for certain categories of chemo patient) not because the hospital near your home doesn't charge)

diddl · 09/01/2018 09:05

Did he just unilaterally decide not to pay then or weren't the signs to pay very obvious?

I thought that a fine could be disbuted if signs not clear or if the fine excessive?

TheCumbrian · 09/01/2018 09:06

If it was Carlisle it's not always completely obvious where the parking meters are depending on where you park and which way you walk up to the hospital so I can see how in a panic you might miss them.

You probably still need to pay the fine though. Pretty much everyone in that hospital car park is there because they are visiting someone ill, and e wasn't the only parent there and unable to leave her so it's not really a valid appeal.

usualGubbins · 09/01/2018 09:10

I have cancer so am a regular hospital visitor. I have to pay every single time I go. Is it fair? Well, when you consider I get all my treatment for free I think it's pretty reasonable. Just wish that all of the hospitals had card machines rather than having to take a whole load of change every time!

Original poster
StupidFine · 09/01/2018 09:12

The Cumbrian it was Carlisle actually! It wasn't DH didn't see the signs it was he genuinely didn't realise he needed to oay until after returning to the car. But better signs probably would've helped but then again his focus was on DD.

Btw i should've said it's a parking charge we received not a fine. My understanding is fines are enforceable by law but charges aren't? We'd happily pay for the time we spent using the car park (£3-4) but £40 seems ridiculously steep. Tm

OP posts:
chickenowner · 09/01/2018 09:13

Just pay the fine. And be thankful that it isn't a lot more.

LIZS · 09/01/2018 09:13

Unless you can prove there was no signage pleading ignorance won't get you far, sorry. I don't think it matters who was driving, the owner is liable by default.

ShatnersBassoon · 09/01/2018 09:13

Pay the fine and have done with it. It's worth £40 to put it behind you.

Cheby · 09/01/2018 09:14

Parking money absolutely goes to the NHS, even if the car park is run by a private firm, they will still pay an annual fee to the hospital and they will maintain and staff the Car parks on their behalf, leaving the hospital free to concentrate on patient care.

arethereanyleftatall · 09/01/2018 09:14

I'd pay it.
Good way of paying a little bit back for the cost of helping your dd.
There was a thread the other day where I think someone said an ambulance call out cost £300. Plus the care she received in the hospital. £40 is a tiny percentage of that.

FairfaxAikman · 09/01/2018 09:14

That's not even true in Scotland @StupidFine. Parking charges are a contract. Contracts are enforceable.
There was a recent case at Dundee Sheriff Court regarding this.
The difference is that in Scotland the owner cannot be compelled to identify the driver (who the contract is with).

WitchesHatRim · 09/01/2018 09:14

My understanding is fines are enforceable by law but charges aren't?

Incorrect. They are going to court and they are winning.

MatildaTheCat · 09/01/2018 09:17

IME it is worth asking for a reconsideration. The fine doesn’t automatically go up to £80 during that time. If you fail to win the appeal you will still pay £40 so other than a few minutes on an email you have nothing to lose.