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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:
PigletWasPoohsFriend · 09/01/2018 12:22

When you are following an ambulance carrying your dangerously ill child you are, ime, I stop away from utter panic and your priority is reaching your child's bedside, not faddling around to get a parking ticket. Try it sometime and see.

My DParents did over Christmas as I was blue lighted to hospital and they were told to follow.

They still paid car parking once emergency was over.

My DH has with DSS. Parking still paid.

BarbarianMum · 09/01/2018 12:28

Once the emergency was over Piglet I had already been ticketed, so no opportunity to pay the charge. I appealed and it was quashed.

Dungeondragon15 · 09/01/2018 12:28

My DParents did over Christmas as I was blue lighted to hospital and they were told to follow.

Just because some parents remember it doesn't mean that it is reasonable to expect all parents to remember. It will depend on many circumstances including whether it is a life or death situation emergency situation.

BashStreetKid · 09/01/2018 12:31

Dungeon, only you believe that lying by omission and deliberately misleading the parking company to get out of a parking charge would not be a lie.

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 09/01/2018 12:34

Just because some parents remember it doesn't mean that it is reasonable to expect all parents to remember. It will depend on many circumstances including whether it is a life or death situation emergency situation.

Mine was a life and death emergency situation.

Once the emergency was over and I was stable, they paid.

You are just making excuses and believe in lying by omission it seems.

mirime · 09/01/2018 12:35

Also it surely depends on the combination of age of the child and the medical emergency? I can imagine being in a blind panic with a potentially dying 8 month old. Not that I drive, but I can see myself just parking and legging it into the hospital as quickly as possible just to be with them.

On the other hand, if I'd called an ambulance when I 'dislocated' my knee - apparently not a true dislocation as I was able to pop it back - in my 20s, I'm sure my parents would have come to the hospital, pretty sure they'd have paid before coming in to look for me.

brownelephant · 09/01/2018 12:36

pay
if he was distracted enough not to see the numerous signs in the car park, maybe he shouldn't have driven.

BarbarianMum · 09/01/2018 12:51

So what would you have done elephant? Sat down to a nice soothing cup of tea at home whilst pondering if your baby was going to make it?

Original poster
StupidFine · 09/01/2018 12:53

I think the argument we should be grateful for receiving 'free healthcare' for our DD and so should pay up is pretty weak. Me and DH pay our taxes so contribute into the system like most other ppl. We rarely ever visit the hospital/GP.

What we are grateful for was the swift and excellent response our DD received. Every member of staff we encountered were excellent.

But again it's weak to pick someone's pocket at a vulnerable time. Surely if evidence can be provided paying for the time used would be adequate enough? If the charge was £1,000 would PP's still pay (you can pay in installments)? What is the limit on paying a charge? These company's can pluck any figure out their a**s why should you just shut up and pay? Surely it's healthy to challenge such things?

OP posts:
Dungeondragon15 · 09/01/2018 12:55

Once the emergency was over and I was stable, they paid.

So they didn't remember or need to pay before the emergency was over either? Why are you criticising OP if your parents didn't pay on arrival at the hospital either.

You are just making excuses and believe in lying by omission it seems.

I'm not the OP and I haven't been fined so why would I "make excuses" for anything?! I just have a different opinion on than you on what is fair and reasonable in that I do not think it reasonable to expect parents to remember or spend the time paying for parking at a time when their child is being admitted to hospital in an emergency life and death situation. I think it is reasonable to expect them to have other priorities which is why I think it is worth appealing.

bumblingbovine49 · 09/01/2018 12:56

I would appeal the fine, they usually freeze the fine at the lower amount while an appeal is ongoing (which in my experience is really not an arduous prosess, write a letter and wait for the reply). If the reply is no, they maybe pay the £40, though I think you would have a good case myself.

If by any chance you feel bad about avoiding paying for parking (why should you really but many of the posters seem to think you should), then offer to pay what the parking fee would have been if your husband had paid at the beginning of parking. That is not likely to be £40 but is a fair amount for the parking as others pay

Personally, I think those being admitted as an emergency (i.e accompanying an ambulance addmitance) should be exempt from a parking fine for 24 hours at least from arrival. Maybe a nominal parking fee charge could be made but ridiculous fines should not be charged for a reasonable period following an one-off emergency admissions where a letter from the hospital confirming things can be produced

I don't see that regular appointments are the same thing at all, even if they are for chemo etc as the patient does in those instances have time to make arrangments re the parking, though I appreciate that the cost is often very high for regular outpatient users or visitors

The Op is not I think complaining about the parking charge but at unreasonable nature of the fine in this one-off emergency circumstance

SaucyJack · 09/01/2018 13:01

"this one-off emergency circumstance"

Pretty sure being the driving parent of a child who's just been admitted to hospital would not be a one-off in the car park of your local children's A&E.

There are no exceptional circumstances here that would give them grounds to appeal.

IsabellaTruffle · 09/01/2018 13:01

Option A.

Was the parking pay and display? All our local hospitals are tickets paid at the end upon leaving the car park?!

It is of course understable you'd forget to get/pay a ticket but this is unfortunatley how the car park works and I don't see the circumstances being enough to get you out of the fine given atleast 50/60% of the people in the car park may have had a similar emergency situation.

Luckymummy22 · 09/01/2018 13:02

You weren’t treated in Scotland you were treated in England. We have to pay car parking rightly or wrongly at hospitals.
I’ve spent a fortune in the last 6 months. More than the £40 fine you’ve received.
It’s crap but I can’t really understand the complaint.

Just remember you get free prescriptions, free hospital parking, free university education etc.
At present there is no difference in taxes.

Ps I’m a Scot

Rebeccaslicker · 09/01/2018 13:04

Do you pay taxes in England or Scotland?

And are you net contributors, esp bearing in mind that just 8 months ago you would have incurred a lot of costs in having your baby?

Most people take out more than they put in. That's just how it is.

Dungeondragon15 · 09/01/2018 13:05

Dungeon, only you believe that lying by omission and deliberately misleading the parking company to get out of a parking charge would not be a lie.

I believe that OP needs only to mention the basic facts which are that their child was admitted in an emergency situation (with evidence) and because of this they omitted to get a parking ticket. By the time they realised they had already received a fine. If the hospital asks if the child was in the car they should state that they weren't but they probably wouldn't think it relevant as most people are empathic enough to understand why the OP didn't pay before rushing into A&E.

Original poster
StupidFine · 09/01/2018 13:05

And OP did state he realised he was supposed to pay before leaving the car park and left anyway

Ms Hopey he realised he was supposed to pay because there was a parking charge slapped on the windscreen. If the car park was a pay on exit it wouldn't be an issue, but it wasn't that type. It was a pay and display beforehand.

OP posts:
Witchend · 09/01/2018 13:06

Unless it says you don't have to pay if it's an emergency then you don't have a leg to stand on.
If it says that then you can appeal.

IsabellaTruffle · 09/01/2018 13:10

Unless it says you don't have to pay if it's an emergency then you don't have a leg to stand on.
If it says that then you can appeal.

A hospital would never have this policy? A huge proportion of people in the car park will have parked there "in an emergency".

Quartz2208 · 09/01/2018 13:10

you made a mistake accept the consequences

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 09/01/2018 13:15

You should pay it.

I don't think your arguments stack up.

TheFairyCaravan · 09/01/2018 13:15

Those nurses and doctors you encountered will have had to pay for parking. Even the students who are working for free. Why should they pay and not you?

Original poster
StupidFine · 09/01/2018 13:40

The FairyCaravan

We did pay actually. To give a complete timeline

12:30 Dd lunchtime, took allergic reaction, ambulance phoned
12:50 ambulance arrived took myself and Dd away, DH followed in car
13:10 DH arrived at hospital, rushed to be with Dd.
14:30 Dd treated but staff worried about secondary reaction and told us Dd would be moved to children's ward. I asked DH to go to nearby Sainsbury to get supplies as Dd due feed in next hr.
14:40 DH returns to car and finds parking charge, puts charge in glove box, drives to Sainsbury for supplies.
15:00 DH returns to car park, pays for parking up until 19:09 then returns to ward.
18:00 Dd given the clear to return home and we leave.

So the irony is DH paid for parking on return from the supermarket (and the amount left on the parking ticket almost covered the period of unpaid parking on arrival). If he hadn't I doubt they would have double fined him.

OP posts:
Sirzy · 09/01/2018 13:42

The fact you paid after is irrelevant!

He hadn’t paid. He was fined. It’s a pain in the arse but that’s life.

Branleuse · 09/01/2018 13:47

just pay it. It was an english hospital, and in those, you have to pay for parking, even if you are scottish. Youve got no grounds to contest it, and a lot of the money for parking, goes straight back to the hospital. Its not ideal but you do have to pay.