This made me cry today - am i pathetic

[Sarem]

at the hospital with ds today. Appointment took longer than I thought, then waiting for meds from the pharmacy. I pleaded with them to fast track us because my parking ticket was running out but they wouldn't. They said "go and put more money in" but how? It's a steep walk up the hill to the car park and with ds's mobility issues there is no way that I could just pop to the car park and then back down and then up again. It was a struggle getting there as it was. So I sat there feeling totally helpless knowing that I would get a ticket, and feeling disproportionately upset.

Yes

Don't just accept this appalling attitude Sarem; write to the CMO at the hospital with your concerns regarding their blatant disability discrimination; expecting you to walk all the way back with a severely disabled child who was already struggling with the trauma of the hospital visit and was about to go into meltdown with further anxiety exacerbated by the ridiculously long wait at the pharmacy despite the staff being aware of your predicament and dismissing your concerns...
(OK I know you never said all that but they don't know that do they!)

Of course you're not silly being upset. Peoples ignorance knows no bounds.

I was watching them and they made absolutely no effort to hurry, I just found it so heartless and uncaring. Tempting to write, but would I nit just get a blah blah response?

Not pathetic at all. Sorry they behaved so insensitively.

Would an email be okay or should it be a proper letter?

does ds have a blue badge? does he have a wheelchair? dd2 walks really well, but i always try and remember to take the wheelchair to the hospital with us, as it makes life so much easier. (i've learnt it the hard way though...)

do write and let them know, but also try and work out a way that you can be prepared for every eventuality next time. our appointments are always delayed or extended, or i'm late because i've had to stalk people around the car park as there are no spaces, so quite often i have to get dd2 into the wheelchair and run up the hill (much to her disgust).

i don't think they will refund the ticket, but it is worth putting it in writing anyway. was there an option to pay more and park longer, or was it one of those stupid 2 hour maximum things?

It was definitely partly my fault, too, I should have put more money in and I should have taken his sn pushchair. He has been walking much better recently and I got carried away thinking we could cope without.

it's awful when you get caught out. i forgot dd2's wc once when she was having sedation . i had to wait about 6 hours for her to be steady enough to stagger out and ended up carrying her to the car. i'd already had had to run back to the car park to put more money in (a £20 note as i'd run out of change, and it was a 'no change given' machine ) and had to ask the receptionist to sit with her, as she kept trying to get up and was falling over. she was convinced she could walk... fortunatley the recptionist was a lot more understnading than your pharmacy!!! (we had been providing unlimited entertainment for the entire waiting room for hours though... )

What sort of ticket? were you parked in hospital grounds? If so ask about their appeals process. I think an email to PALS would be the easiest route.

Really? It was an nhs car park overseen by one of those criminal gangs private parking companies

"car park overseen by one of those criminal gangs private parking companies"
see here

If you want it to go away maybe pay and email PALS - see if they'll reimburse you? Worth a shot.
If you feel brave try what MSE suggest. Good luck x
(Pharmacy delayed us today and meant I hit city centre at 5pm with a toddler screaming for his dinner)

You've all been very kind thank you!

Was it in hospital grounds? If it was they are not enforceable in Scotland anyway, where are you op?
I have had lots, just ignored them and nothing has happened.

www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?305409-CP-Plus-parking-ticket-at-Southern-General-Hospital

If the car park is operated by one of those criminal gangs private parking firms on behalf of the hospital then I think you have to appeal directly to the parking firm. Write and tell them why you couldn't go back and put more money in the machine - as suggested by the pharmacy. I'm pretty sure that the company that runs our hospital car park have been told they must be sympathetic in such cases (due to lots of bad publicity about such things in the local paper).
Its got to be worth the cost of a stamp.

Sorry forgot to add - you are not pathetic- it was an added stress that you didn't need. It is a scandle that such thigs are added to the burdon of hospital patients. Article on our local radio only this morning about how the 2 hospitals in our NHS Trust took over £1m in car park fees last year - and only half of it goes into the hospital kitty to provide services - the other half went to the criminal gang parking company.