Hospital parking fine

nublue

Hi,

I went today to my hydrotherapy session, which was due to start at 10am. I got to the car park just at 10am, parked up, and then realised that I had forgotten my handbag, so no purse or phone. I could see the board with the fees on it from where I parked, and the top line in bold letters said "up to 45 mins free".

I went into hydortherapy and explained it to the receptionist, and she agreed to give them a call with my reg no while I was in the session. When I came out, she told me she had tried several times, but had not got through.

When I got back to my car 50 mins later, there was a ticket on it asking for £70 (or £30 if paid promptly), and this had been put on my car at 10:10. I spotted the parking guy, and asked why, he said you are supposed to get a ticket from the machine which is free for the first 45 mins, I looked more closely at the sign, and in small writing under the listing of "free for 45mins" it said exactly that - I hadn't noticed this before...

He advised me to go to the parking office, which I did and the guy there said all I can do is write a letter to appeal. The parking company is APCOA.

I have drafted a letter, but now I have read the MSE guide, I am wondering whether I should send it? It says to ignore the request for payment, but I don't want to risk going to court if I can get it revoked because of the circumstances (are hospital car parks more lenient?)

Any advice much appreciated...

lucylucky

You have not received a fine - you have been given an unenforceable invoice.

Do not write to the company it will achieve nothing.

Ignore

nublue

Hi, Thanks for your reply!

The other complicating matter which I did not mention initially is that it is a company car. If they try and search for me it will go direct to the company, so it involves my employer automatically. I am not worried about the timings etc. as it is my day off, so I could legitimately be there!!

Once (with a previous company but still a company car) I was in the process of disputing a parking ticket, and because the dispute hadn't gone through yet, when the notice saying pay up came through, they paid it, then docked me twice the cost of the fine! Although this was a council parking ticket.

Leah

taffy056

Completely ignore it, there is no appeal process that is independent , so they will always find in favour of themselves ! These invoices are not parking tickets, and have no basis in law! These hospitals who use these cowboys should named and shamed, I went to a maternity appointment with my wife to Singleton Hospital in Swansea, and there is no charge at all for using the car park, and there was plenty of spaces. They removed the parking cowboys because I believe that patients and their visitors come first!

taffy056

nublue wrote: »

Hi, Thanks for your reply!

The other complicating matter which I did not mention initially is that it is a company car. If they try and search for me it will go direct to the company, so it involves my employer automatically. I am not worried about the timings etc. as it is my day off, so I could legitimately be there!!

Once (with a previous company but still a company car) I was in the process of disputing a parking ticket, and because the dispute hadn't gone through yet, when the notice saying pay up came through, they paid it, then docked me twice the cost of the fine! Although this was a council parking ticket.

Leah

You need to inform your company NOT to pay these idiots, there is a link on here that goes to fleet news that clearly shows that these are not enforceable tickets and should be ignored, I will try to find it for you.

lucylucky

You will need to let whoever deals with transport in your company that they will receive a letter which has no legal standing and is not a fine.

Point them to the many threads on here that explain the situation.

That said your comments may well fall on deaf ears (sadly)

taffy056

Show your company this link

http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/2009/5/28/question-private-parking-fines-fleets-urged/30698/

patman99

At Colchester General they used to have an area designated as an 'Accident and Emergency drop-off point' with a maximum 20 minute wait. Due to the number of people using it, they took it away, thus forcing patients to park in a barrier-controlled carpark.

I have however found a loophole in the system, there is nothing stopping you walking up to the 'in' barrier just prior to leaving, and obtaining a fresh ticket to take to the pay machine, thus paying the minimum charge regardless of your length of stay.

nublue

Thanks all :j

I have just written an email to my fleet manager, including the fleet news link. I explained the situation to them, and asked that if any correspondence is sent to them regarding this matter, to please pass it on to me, with no action taken. Hopefully that should do the trick. I have copied it to my line manager too, in case!

Just hope my nerves can withstand the stress!!!

david39

Patman99

Beware of this practice - some ticket-issuing barriers also have numberplate recognition cameras and print your registration number on the ticket - if they check tickets that have no number on them and also check them against number plates on vehicles leaving, they might eventually tie it up with your car.

However, as a simple security check by the operators to prevent this practice, if the number plate is printed on the ticket, then I would have expected the machine to throw a wobbly if it was given one without a number plate recorded on it.

Sir_Roger_deLodger

david39 wrote: »

Patman99

Beware of this practice - some ticket-issuing barriers also have numberplate recognition cameras and print your registration number on the ticket - if they check tickets that have no number on them and also check them against number plates on vehicles leaving, they might eventually tie it up with your car.

However, as a simple security check by the operators to prevent this practice, if the number plate is printed on the ticket, then I would have expected the machine to throw a wobbly if it was given one without a number plate recorded on it.

So what? It doesn't make their pretend penalties any more enforceable. They are preying on hospital patients, so if someone rips THEM off it serves them right.