Hospital Parking Charge - AIBU to think this is outrageous?

[AgileLemonShark]

In January, I had driven DS (13) to a GP appointment and was told to take him straight to the hospital as an emergency as GP thought he had appendicitis.

There were no spaces when we got there as usual (I have a disabled badge and no disabled spaces either), so we drove around for 5-10 minutes waiting but no cars were moving so I decided to park on an access road to one of the car parks near the A&E entrance.

This access road has been used as ‘overflow’ parking for all years I’ve lived here (20). I had parked there many times before including a few weeks before for a routine clinic appointment. Other cars were parked along there but I noticed they’d put double yellow lines down which weren’t there before so they must have done it recently, but had to take a chance as needed to get my DS into the hospital and I was in a panic as DS has Type 1 diabetes and I was petrified of possible surgery and complications,

When we got in, I couldn’t leave him to go and try to move the car as didn’t know how long I’d be trying to find a space as hospital is a huge area with multiple car parks, and we might have been called. We were then waiting to be called for a scan, his blood sugars weren’t stable and I wasn’t going to leave him unsupervised. When my husband got to the hospital after work about two hours later I immediately went to move my car and it had a penalty ticket on it.

I appealed under extenuating circumstances when was refused, then went to the parking adjudicator who also refused it.

I enclosed my son’s admission sheet showing he was admitted that day and had surgery, and a copy of disabled badge.

I would have thought that would be classed as extenuating circumstances which is what I appealed on.

I then left it as was furious it had been refused and am now being chased by a debt collection agent for £170 with the threat of court action. Think the original penalty was £70.

What was I supposed to do, drive out of the hospital to a car park 10-15 mins walk away and then get my son to walk back to the hospital? It was an emergency! His blood sugars were high and he was in too much pain to walk!

Maybe I should have driven back home and called an ambulance?

There was no loss incurred as we were exempt from parking charges due to the disabled badge.

I don’t want to pay it also don’t want a CCJ and extra court costs. I could understand if I caused an obstruction but why should they profit from my son needing emergency medical treatment and not having enough parking spaces?

PALs will not help and I emailed the onsite parking company today again and they said I lost my appeal so tough.

I am just so furious about this and think it is outrageous to rinse people for money who are having to visit a hospital.

AIBU?

I fully get being scared for your child’s life. I get why you parked against the rules of the car park. But that doesn’t mean they are wrong to fine uou, otherwise it just becomes a free for all and people can dump the car wherever they want at hospitals (more than they already do!) because the rules don’t apply. You appealed, it failed. Move on.

Totally appreciate you feel like you didn’t have any other options but regardless, you did park on double yellow lines. I work in a hospital, and driving into work yesterday morning I nearly had an accident (involving a pedestrian, not another car) because someone else had parked on double yellow lines completely blocking my visibility. They’re there for a reason.

What I think there should be is the same parking rules across all hospitals, and any penalties administered by the local authority if not the hospital itself. Private companies should not be allowed to profit, at least if there is a profit it going to the public purse.

There is a lack of two or more story parking at almost every hospital I have been to, which could alleviate the lack of space.

YANBU.
Of course you shouldn’t have parked there but I don’t see what you could have done in the circumstances. The whole thing must have been very stressful.

As others have said , you know you shouldn’t have parked there , but we ( mostly ) would have all done the same in the heat of the moment . I once missed 1 hour and 20minutes of a 2 hour visiting slot whilst attempting to visit a relative in hospital , trying to find a poxy parking space ! It’s a joke , but unfortunately not a new thing in hospitals .
On another note … Is it not the same as a council issued fine , whereas if you appeal the ability to pay reduced amount is put on hold until outcome for appeal is decided ? So if declined you get option to pay reduce amount immediately ?

No you can’t. You can on a single yellow line but not a double

I wouldn’t have appealed it. You can’t park there and you know you can’t. It is an access road with double yellows (possible signs) so it is very clear you are not allowed to park. Regardless of if it was previously used for overflow or not it now has double yellow lines. I completely understand you needing to park and get your son in and if it was totally safe and not causing an obstruction to the road or peoples view then that’s ok (but why is it double yellows if it’s not going to cause an obstruction in some way?) anyway having parked where you did I’d of just paid the £70 fine when I received it

I've been admitted multiple times from gp appts for constant kidney infections and there is no parking at my specialist hospital ( the local hospital won't touch me ) . But I've had to drive around the hospital car park for up to an hour to get a space - I also have a blue badge and I can't walk from where the on street parking is due to my disability.
But in that situation you kinda have to drop you son in there and move the car as awful as it is bc it's clearly a access road and needed to be clear if it's got double yellows . That said you should have got 3 hours free with a blue badge if it was on display and the time clock was correct

I don’t know to be honest. A family member was recently in hospital for 2 and a half weeks. We paid £15 a day for parking. We had to return a couple of weeks later to A and E and we were lucky there were two of us accompanying them as we couldn’t find a parking place. The whole business is unacceptable.

Tax of life unfortunately. Just pay it and move on. As someone who drives, parking tickets and speeding tickets are inevitable. Just your turn unfortunately.

I left the NHS for partly this reason (not whole reason).

I'm not prepared to pay for the privilege of going to work when there isn't even a guaranteed place for me. I don't need that stress in the morning or indeed in the evening. (I'd also quite like a locker, a changing room, a shelf full of differently sized scrubs that I can just sling in a skip at the end of my shift to be washed at a high temperature and not with my children's clothes and a shower so that i can wash the blood and shit off myself if I need to)

The extra stress of parking was the straw that broke this camel's back

I’d have parked there, but accepted that I would have to pay the fine.

Make a TikTok about this and tag/hashtag the hospital and the car park company. I know it sounds daft but this day and age social media is what helps the small people win. Your story is insane and your tik tok will probably go viral - and then be picked up by the papers.

Im confused as to why so many have voted yabu. Where should the op have parked? What should she have done?

I’d say it was unfortunate rather than fair that you got a fine, there was double yellow lines and you took a risk by parking there. I would be annoyed too, not disputing this however the parking attendant doesn’t care about individual circumstances behind each fine that is issued.

If you could appeal and win so be it but the likely outcome is you’ll lose the case as technically you were parked somewhere that you shouldn’t have parked.

I would have paid the fine rather than escalating it and you end up paying so much more. I’m not disagreeing about the parking issue but you need to take responsibility for parking where there’s clearly double yellow lines.

I don’t blame her for parking as she did. But she still made a choice in that moment to park contrary to the rules of the car park and as such the fine is right. Double yellow lines are put in for a reason.

So was it a council road or private? If it’s private it’s not a fine, it’s a charge. You might have a way to get out of paying it but you should consult the experts at Free Legal Traffic Advice https://www.ftla.uk/ - good luck. If it’s a fine from the council then you should have paid it as you committed the offence. Sorry!

Why should I be fined for parking safely without causing an obstruction or inconvenience to anybody so I could get my kid into A&E as an emergency?

Because that is the rule. Because you knowingly parked on double yellow lines. I said further up I would have done the exact same thing as you in those circumstances. But I would have paid the fine when it first arrived because I would have expected it as a consequence of my actions.

I always opt for someone driving and dropping off or taxi. It’s just not like it used to be as there are so many cars on the road now with far fewer people taking public transport or walking. It’s not likely to improve anytime soon and unfortunately, whilst I totally feel your frustration, the problem with a hospital is that by it’s nature there’s always going to be someone in worse circumstances than you, whereas if you were in a different location, your circumstances might be more unique.

We’ve become to accept the standards of a developing nation. Lack of parking at a hospital is just an unacceptable failure of infrastructure.

Was there really no-one you could have called to sit with your son in the two hours' waiting to be seen so you could move the car? Could your husband have left work early as it was an emergency? I think you should pay it and get a lift/taxi next time. Having a blue badge doesn't make a space magically appear unfortunately.

I think the NHS is evidently unable to provide what we expect of it anymore. These private parking companies are part of that economic pressure. Their hawkishness is deeply repulsive.
I had a scan recently near here and the nurse told me there are countless nurses who have court processes going on as they have had the temerity of trying to park at their place of work. That to me is unforgivable.
The government definitely should intervene to address how aggressive these companies are - I believe there is scope for that.
However - I tend to see the NHS as such a huge privilege, with all its problems, and I would be horrified by this but I would also be grateful not to get a bill for thousands of pounds for my child’s treatment.
My niece who lives and works abroad didn’t go to hospital recently until she had contacted her insurance company and checked which hospital she could legitimately go to as she was terrified her condition would not be covered or might only be covered in certain centres.
It is awful but we are still extraordinarily lucky.

I think that may be unkind to a number of developing countries to make that comparison.

Not true anymore. Parking Eye v Beavis 2015. Private parking companies can and do take these through all the way to County Court, many people think they can ignore with impunity then all of a sudden, they've got a CCJ and enforcement agents on their doorstep.

I’d have done exactly what you did but I’d have paid the fine when it first came through and chalked it up to experience.