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?

NOT ON PRIVATE LAND.

YOU DON'T NEED TO SHOUT DEAR....

I didn't see where it said this was private land, just a road leading to a carpark.

And to the PP who said you can't park on double yellows on a road, only singles - you're wrong, where on earth did you get that from? Go look at the blue badge page on the gov.uk website, thats where I got my information (and the booklet that comes with my Blue Badge), I didn't invent this for the purposes of this thread.

I’d just pay it. You won’t win and you were parked in the wrong place.

Can you imagine how much land would be required to have parking spaces available, all the time, for everyone that wants one?

Or how high the multistory car park would have to be, and the cost to build and own the land?

I’ve emailed the Chief Executive of the hospital today asking what he expects people to do in my circumstances. He responded directly and has got the Head of the Estates and Facilities Department to investigate it. I’ve got his number to call him tomorrow.

Fingers crossed 🤞

So if they quash your fine it's probably because they want to be nice to you, but what about the next time? The next 5 people that also park where they're no supposed to? Should everyone just ignore the lines?
The yellow lines weren't there before, and now they are, it's evident that there's been an issue with people parking there.
I think you're very entitled taking it this far TBH. You knew you were in the wrong parking there in the first instance and that a penalty was always a risk. You took a chance and now blaming your situation on anyone, not understanding it was unfortunate timing there wasn't an actual space for you in the car park.
I'd have just sucked it up and paid the initial fine.

Hope your DS is feeling better OP.

I remember the horror drive to A&E when my DS was diagnosed with T1 and in DKA. His GP said an ambulance would take too long and to go straight there while he phoned ahead. It was visiting hours, so a queue to get into the car park. I ended up leaving my car half up a verge in the staff car park. I have never felt fear like it.

Really? In a medical emergency does it really matter if someone parks where they’re ‘not supposed to’? As long as they’re not causing an obstruction which I wasn’t and I wasn’t the only one who parked along that bit of road at that time due to lack of spaces.

Can you explain why I’m entitled to feel a £70 fine is proportionate in that instance?

I knew that bit of road was used as extra parking for many years and I’d used it before myself without incident. I didn’t like to because I’m generally a rule follower and there weren’t marked bays. I can only assume the parking company wanted to issue more fines but you know what, stuff the rules when I needed to get my kid into hospital.

Obviously I didn’t know we’d be held up at Reception for 30 mins just to check in when we got in there with my child in visible pain (none of the other children looked in pain tbh) which I regret now not making a fuss about because I’m a rule follower and waited patiently in the bloody queue!

For life and death situations you take the hit.

You parked on a double yellow line, and you know you did because you said you said thought you'd chance it.

For a life and death situation, I would have accepted the fine and paid it.

Yes I remember the drive to A&E for that too. 3 years in now. Although thankfully DS wasn’t in full blown DKA yet.

GP wouldn’t give an appointment as they had none left and wouldn’t let me pop in to get the nurse to do a quick finger prick even though I said I thought he had symptoms. They said call 111 who told me to take him straight to hospital. Breath was the clincher and I’d been furiously googling and read the horror stories before that so was crapping myself.

I was telling myself, no he can’t be Type 1, it’s got to be a virus or something, stop panicking woman! as we drove in. Blood sugar was 40.

At least there was a parking space then though.

The appendicitis was terrifying because I was petrified about his blood sugars if he had to have surgery and was under anaesthetic, which was fine as they put him on an insulin drip which I didn’t know they did.

He recovered very quickly thank you.

It’s so tough isn’t it,

I’m sorry. Why should I have to pay a fine for being in a life or death situation when I didn’t affect anybody else just so a parking company can make more money?

Do you hear yourself?

I hope your correspondence with the CEO is successful, and that your DS is feeling much better very soon.

I have a blue badge, and sometimes park on double yellows (if necessary), unless there are yellow bands painted from the road over the kerb. I checked with a traffic warden when I first got my blue badge, and they told me I could stay there for up to 3 hours, so I am surprised you got a ticket after just 2. I would have tried to appeal against the ticket too in your shoes, I hope they cancel it.

I would have done the same as you OP. Hospital parking is insane.

A medical emergency doesn't mean you can park wherever you like. When you like. What if everybody did that?

Do you hear yourself.

It's nobody's fault.There wasn't parking available. Suck it up and pay the fine.
It's not the parking companies fault your son is sick nor are they obliged to provide anyone with free parking that has an emergency.

Disgraceful for you to have been given a fine for this. A sad indictment of our wicked society. It’s obvious people need to park at A&E. They need to make spaces.

Contact your Mp.
I don’t think admin staff, people working regular hours or people having a routine appointment should get free parking at hospitals btw.

I would have left my car anywhere I needed to.

But I would also accept that I incurred a fine for doing so, and would pay it.

If someone parks somewhere without causing an obstruction when they had a medical emergency, I wouldn’t give a toss nor would any sane person!

Absolutely people with a medical emergency should get free parking but this wasn’t about that. I have free parking anyway due to having a disabled badge (for me not for DS). There was no loss incurred to the parking company.

This is nuts.

Why though, why do you think you should pay a fine for having to get a child to hospital in an emergency?

How many people every day will be attending a hospital with a medical emergency? Obviously it will be loads and loads of people per definition it would include everyone attending A&E! Should they all be allowed to park wherever they like in violation of regulations because they are attending for a medical emergency? I would say of course not because it would be chaos. If you feel you have no choice then you do what you need to do but you pay the fine as this is not an exceptional circumstance in the context of a hospital.

You do need to use the clock thingy that comes with your blue badge if you're parking on double yellows so they know when you arrived, so it may be that the OP didn't do this (or it could be the private land issue, the OP doesn't mention either)

It's emergency, the clue is in the name. Do you want everyone on there to leave there cars anywhere they like, blocking traffic and ambulances and on double yellows?
Of course you don't .

Yes because you parking incorrectly is definitely his number 1 concern.

I'm sure he will write it off, apologise profusely, and you will all skip off into the sunshine.

That’s not why you’ve been fined though. You’ve been fined for parking outwith the rules on that particular site. Despite you saying your parking on the double yellow lines wasn’t affecting anyone, how do you know that? There’s a reason why they put those lines there.
At the end of the day, you chose to park ‘illegally’ in the circumstances, which I’m sure most of us would do the same in that situation. You have also chosen not to pay the penalty. Some of us would HAVE paid and then appealed after, which is what you’re advised to do. The fact that you don’t think people should have to pay to park on a hospital site is pretty irrelevant, because that’s not going to change the rules. When my DF was in hospital and subsequently died there, I spend an inordinate amount on parking plus incurred one penalty charge. It’s shit, but I paid up because to not do so would have been pointless.
‘And, all the revenue from parking charges doesn't go to the parking company - some also goes to the Trust and helps to maintain the car parks around the site.
https://www.britishparking.co.uk/blog/hospital-parking-charges-who-benefits/674

Perhaps you could start up a campaign to get free parking for all on hospital sites?

There are two issues here. One is your fine. I think contacting the chief exec was a good move and I hope it helps.

The other is the overall lack of adequate provision for hospital attendees, whether they are staff, patients or visitors. I would be contacting my local councillor about that as they're in a position to push for things such as a better bus service or a dedicated hospital park and ride, and your experience perfectly illustrates why that's needed. The hospital has only so much land and money available to find a solution by itself and when they've exhausted that the wider community has to get involved.