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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:
Dungeondragon15 · 09/01/2018 10:47

When you appeal don't you have to give a reason for appeal? Like the circumstances? Because it would take a really twisted person to deliberately omit the main details of the sick child not even being in the car. That's just awful, and to save £40

I don't think that it would be "awful" just to state that you arrived in a hospital in a state of panic because child needed emergency treatment due to an allergic reaction and therefore did not realise/or have time to read signs and/or pay and display. In many hospitals (e.g. my local ones) you don't pay until you leave anyway which would avoid this kind of thing.

Blackteadrinker77 · 09/01/2018 10:47

Queen- They are right, that is not legal grounds.

Disproportionate losses and lack of well lit signage is the grounds for appeal with this car park.
OP follow my earlier link for the appeal letter. Ignore any threatening letters they send you after appealing. Keep them for when it goes to Popla.

WitchesHatRim · 09/01/2018 10:47

I would challenge it given the circumstances

Everyone has a circumstance for being at a hospital.

Pretty sure people don't turn up for a day trip out.

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 09/01/2018 10:48

I don't think that it would be "awful" just to state that you arrived in a hospital in a state of panic because child needed emergency treatment due to an allergic reaction and therefore did not realise/or have time to read signs and/or pay and display.

Imo yes it is 'awful because you are committing the one piece of important information. That your DC wasn't with you.

19lottie82 · 09/01/2018 10:49

queen totally different kettle of fish and not a like for like comparison.

Your congestion fine was issued by the council or a similar legitimate organisation?

These private parking companies are just total money grabbing sharks. An appeal on the basis you have described will NOT work.

icedtea · 09/01/2018 10:49

Contest it.
The rules are taking advantage of people and need to be changed.

Dungeondragon15 · 09/01/2018 10:51

Everyone has a circumstance for being at a hospital.

Yes, but it's not usually an absolute emergency. Usually there is plenty of time to stop and read signs or buy tickets. A parent with a child who is rushed to A&E in an emergency is in a very different position to a patient with an appointment or a visitor.

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 09/01/2018 10:51

The rules are taking advantage of people and need to be changed.

What rules are taking advantage?

Sorry but fail to see your point.

TheFairyCaravan · 09/01/2018 10:53

Pay the fine.

DS2 is a 3rd student nurse in England. He doesn’t get free parking. He doesn’t drive to placement because he can’t afford the parking alone any fine he’d incur when he’d stay late as he very often does. He works for free and has to ride his bike in, in the pissing rain and freezing cold at 6:30am. It’s no bloody fun.

FreudianSlurp · 09/01/2018 10:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheFairyCaravan · 09/01/2018 10:54

Yes, but it's not usually an absolute emergency. Usually there is plenty of time to stop and read signs or buy tickets. A parent with a child who is rushed to A&E in an emergency is in a very different position to a patient with an appointment or a visitor.

The child had a parent with them. There was no reason that the other parent couldn’t take 2 minutes to put some coins in a metre.

Dungeondragon15 · 09/01/2018 10:55

Imo yes it is 'awful because you are committing the one piece of important information. That your DC wasn't with you.

I disagree strongly.

Dungeondragon15 · 09/01/2018 11:04

The child had a parent with them. There was no reason that the other parent couldn’t take 2 minutes to put some coins in a metre.

If a child is admitted to A&E by ambulance in an emergency, most parents would feel that they also had to be there as a matter of emergency whether this would actually make a difference to the outcome for the child. I think it is quite cold-hearted to want a parent to be fined £40 because they didn't spend time reading signs and paying and displaying tickets in these circumstances.

QueenUnicorn · 09/01/2018 11:11

*queen totally different kettle of fish and not a like for like comparison.

Your congestion fine was issued by the council or a similar legitimate organisation?

These private parking companies are just total money grabbing sharks. An appeal on the basis you have described will NOT work*

I guess people all have different experiences. At least 4 family members have received parking fines which they were later let off for a genuine reason like the above. Not all people out there are monsters.

Rebeccaslicker · 09/01/2018 11:11

So dungeon, how would you replenish the NHS coffers to the tune of £130,000,000 a year, if parking fees are so evil and immoral?

RockinHippy · 09/01/2018 11:12

The child had a parent with them. There was no reason that the other parent couldn’t take 2 minutes to put some coins in a metre.

Are you actually a parent Confused if so it doesn't sound like you have ever been in that situation, if you had, then you would know just how dumb this statement is

CherryChasingDotMuncher · 09/01/2018 11:14

OP I know the hospital well. The company are reasonable if you contest it and say it was an emergency for your child it's likely they will write it off

CherryChasingDotMuncher · 09/01/2018 11:16

And to all the PPs the hospital doesn't make money off the parking tickets. The enforcement company do and they don't charge the NHS for enforcement, they make the money from tickets and fines.

Rebeccaslicker · 09/01/2018 11:19

But lots of hospitals make money from the actual parking fee. Which the OP didn't pay Hmm

MsHopey · 09/01/2018 11:20

Just seems shit that so many of us pay it and there's plenty people out there with MSE templates who don't think the same rules apply for them.
Alot of people have either been ill in hospital themselves or have taken sick relatives, all of us stressed and worried and probably skint. And we pay our parking fees.
And OP did state he realised he was supposed to pay before leaving the car park and left anyway.

CherryChasingDotMuncher · 09/01/2018 11:23

Have a crack at an appeal OP. If it doesn't work then suck it up and pay the fine (they will take you to court otherwise).

Dungeondragon15 · 09/01/2018 11:26

So dungeon, how would you replenish the NHS coffers to the tune of £130,000,000 a year, if parking fees are so evil and immoral?

I didn't say that parking charges are all "evil and immoral". I just don't think it is the best way of raising funds for the NHS particularly as the charges are so high. (if indeed all the money even goes to the NHS). I think it is particularly unreasonable to charge high fees and/or fines in an emergency situation such as this where forgetting to pay is quite understandable. I think the NHS might agree actually which is why it is worth appealing.

StepAwayFromGoogle · 09/01/2018 11:30

According to a nurse at our local hospital, the NHS/hospital itself DOESN'T receive the money from parking. It is run completely separately by an independent firm.

What disgusted me is that staff are expected to pay for parking while on shift too. Including if they are on a night shift and it is icy or snowing. We need to value our NHS staff a whole lot more.

BashStreetKid · 09/01/2018 11:32

On the grounds that they went to the hospital as an emergency with an eight month old (supplying copy of hospital letter) and had no time to stop and read signs/pay for parking.

But the person didn't go to the hospital as an emergency with an 8 month old. And if you imagine the parking company has no means of double checking with the hospital how the child arrived, dream on. Plus, of course, they would rightly point out that OP's husband had more than enough time to stop and check the position when they left, and indeed beforehand: as soon as he could see the child was being treated and responding to treatment there was no longer any emergency.

However you think the NHS should be funded, Dungeon, we need to deal with the system as it is. Lying to get out of a parking charge when you've just had hundreds of pounds worth of life-saving treatment is deeply attractive, is it?

19lottie82 · 09/01/2018 11:32

queen a legitimate reason, yes. To me those would be, my car broke down and I exceeded he maximum stay (with a tow truck receipt), or there were no signs displayed.

I didn’t realise (unless there were no signs), or my child was ill (at a hospital) aren’t legitimate reasons.

PS did your friends get fines, or private parking charges?

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