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?

Appeal. Given the circumstances you may well be let off

What circumstances? Man parks car and does not pay?

Everyone goes to hospital under 'circumstances'

I would pay - I imagine other people were there under similar circumstances.

Surprised by the number of people saying 'just pay'. We were in a very similar situation a few months ago. My nephew fell off his bike while staying with us, and after going first to a local minor injuries unit in a cottage hospital (no parking charges) were sent on to an unfamiliar a&e, with three tired and hungry children in tow (one of whom turned out to have a badly broken arm). Didn't see parking meters, last thing on our mind etc etc and were at hospital from about 8pm to 4am, during which time what little cash we had on us was used to buy snacks at vending machine. Thought no more about it until we received an £80 fine. Obviously had no real ground for appeal, but suitably outraged, we wrote explaining the situation and appealing to their better nature and the fine was dropped. Same thing happened when I wrote appealing a fine for overstating in Aldi car park - again no real grounds for appeal, but a carefully worded email resulted in dropping the fine no questions. I think perhaps the prospect of these things going viral on social media gives you some leverage, especially where young children are involved.

Just pay it

We were in a very similar situation a few months ago. My nephew fell off his bike while staying with us, and after going first to a local minor injuries unit in a cottage hospital (no parking charges) were sent on to an unfamiliar a&e, with three tired and hungry children in tow (one of whom turned out to have a badly broken arm).

This is not remotely similar. The child's father was alone when he parked the car.

Don’t appeal. It won’t do any good.

Personally I’d just ignore it. My Mum got a few of these from the hospital parking company when she was getting chemo and just binned them. The letters kept coming for 2 years, but nothing ever came of it, they were just empty threaten

If you don’t want to ignore it then Go to the Money Saving Expert site and there is a template letter to send these companies which tells them you won’t pay it because what they are claiming is unproportionate to what they have lost by you parking there. Use this.
As Thai is what they advise you to do.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/parking-ticket-appeals

They have copies of the letters to send to each parking company appealing.

It's £40.

Just pay it and spend your time and energy on being happy that your dd is now ok.

OP, the law in Scotland has been tightened up recently.

In Tayside there has always been parking charges in hospitals, and in September, the charges were ruled lawful.

See here

Personally I’d just ignore it

Bad advice. The current position is that parking companies are taking people to court, and having the fines upheld.

Never ignore a parking ticket. Appeal if you genuinely believe you have grounds.

OP - I've appealed a few parking tickets for friends/family. I will only do so if they're genuinely in the right and have been harshly treated. In your case I wouldn't go to the effort of appealing and would pay.

@petbear
I was pleasantly surprised their fine was rescinded. It wasn’t what I expected. They don’t have blue badge (although my dad is unsteady on his feet at 85 and should definitely investigate getting one!).

As a shopper at Lidl they were entitled to park for free, but because they didn’t register their vehicle to activate the free parking, they were in contravention of the rules, and received a PCN accordingly. This Lidl is in a town centre location where there are issues with non shoppers parking there, so are required To register as @FreudianSlurp mentioned.

So your DH was alone in the car and forgot to pay?

Pay the fine. The NHS needs every penny, and where would you have been without the treatment your dc received? Next time pay for the parking like everyone else.

You know something, all the people advocating that the OP should appeal a parking fine incurred because they failed to pay a parking ticket, are going to be the same people who are complaining when the NHS goes under due to underfunding.

And I wonder how many are the same people who decry teachers for being lazy and workshy and vehemently support performance related pay, but then also complain about the pressure their children are under to perform in SATs.

I just think that people don't realise that these things don't happen in isolation.

OH OK, I didn't know that about the Lidl car park. It's not the same in any of the Lidls in my town. Must have different rules then.

Still, the rest of what I said still stands. The situation with the OP is not the same as someone getting a fine rescinded when there shouldn't have been a parking charge in the first place. The OP SHOULD have paid it. (And she now needs to pay the fine.)

@19lottie82 is giving very bad advice telling the OP to not pay, just because 'moneysavingexpert' says not to!

Pay your fine. It was an emergency at the time but you were with your DD so your Dh could have paid the fee. Nobody wants to pay but they're the rules. On your logic everyone could find some excuse not to pay. Everyone expects public facilities to be provided and maintained. It cost money and the money has to come from somewhere. I don't see why they would need to waste money proving who was driving. The fine should go to the registered owner of the car which in most circumstances would be the op or her DH and presumably he is on cctv leaving the car there.

Option B as it's on hold whilst being reviewed. If they come back with you owe the £40 then pay it. Scottish are very lucky to have free prescriptions/parking and pretty good health support care in the community

I would pay the £40, and done with. I sympathise because I worked for the NHS many years, and as staff we had to pay, as well. at one point about 10 years ago, machines were installed and we were told we would be paying £1 per hour, and our average shift were 10-12 hours. Our Ward sister was clamped, refusing to pay. The machines and car parks are nothing to do with the NHS they are private parking firms, the money for them doesnt magically go to NHS funding.

You should pay it.
Hospital parking helps to fund the nhs which gives you FREE medical care. If everyone stopped paying then the nhs could end up being severly underfunded so just ask your self what would you rather pay the£40 parking fine or the £100's of medical bills that, that one appointment would have cost the nhs.

Peacefulblessing- This is Carlisle hospital, the money goes to UKPC who have been fined for incorrect signage etc. The hospital do not get the money.
www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/latest/Hospital-parking-fines-wrongly-issued-because-of-incorrect-signs-4417f8f4-3fbb-455c-a04d-cc45539d9470-ds

When my son was admitted for two days I had only paid parking for two hours at first, the ward nurse sorted it out so that we didn't get a fine or a ticket.

This is not about whether the Op should pay the fee, this isabout whether they should pay the fine. Paying the fee is fair. Are we really saying the NHS relies on penalising distraught parents for funding?

Fair enough, but I was really speaking generally and the OP's husband didn't fail to pay due to incorrect signage - he had no intention of doing so.

The rules are still the same for everyone though - buy a ticket, don't get a fine; don't buy a ticket, get a fine. You know the rules of the game when you play it.

Pay it. £40 is nothing to pay for what the hospital have done for your child.

Oh and Jessie the NHS doesn't provide FREE care for most of us, it's free at the point of use. So chances are OP and her dh have been contributing monthly through their taxes.

Nannybeach - that's not true for every hospital. And as a PP said, if the hospital owns the land, do you really think they just give it to the private parking companies for free?