Amputee fails in appeal over hospital car parking

SickOfItAll_2

Well, I'd like to post a link to the story but as a new user I can't!

It's in Middlesbrough's Evening Gazette tonight. Search for subject.

www gazettelive co uk

bromsgrovebarry

this should do the trick
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2010/12/01/amputee-fails-in-appeal-over-hospital-car-parking-84229-27744903/2/

McKneff

This is cut and pasted

Posted for anyone who gets a private parking 'fine'

PRIVATE PARKING TICKETS - DON'T PAY!
IT IS NOT A FINE! YOU HAVE DONE NOTHING ILLEGAL!

This is an information page for the thousands of people who receive "tickets" from private companies in the UK ever day at supermarkets, retail parks, and in any other privately-owned carpark.

We are NOT encouraging anybody to openly flout parking restrictions on private land, or to refuse to pay reasonable charges for parking. Landowners have a right to make reasonable charges for the use of their land.

For advice specific to your case, you should visit the forums at http://forums.pepipoo.com or http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...affic-offences.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...play.php?f=163

1. What you should know about these companies

It is important to remember that private parking companies (or PPCs as they are often called) have NO OFFICIAL POWERS - that's right, none at all! They give out their "tickets" on the basis that you have seen the signs in their car park and that you have therefore agreed to a contract obliging you to pay a certain sum of money.


2. What happens to people who don't pay?

In 99.9% of cases, absolutely NOTHING! The company pays the DVLA £2.50 to get your address, and then sends lots of threatening letters. In the main, these letters can be safely IGNORED. The only way the company can actually force you to pay is by taking you to the small claims court, which costs them even more money. And they are by no means guaranteed to win! And they practically never do.

The two main reasons for this (among others) are the following:

- Only the person DRIVING the car could ever have agreed to any such parking contract. The company can only get the Registered Keeper's address from the DVLA: you don't have to tell them who was driving.

-Many of these charges are so extortionately high that they constitute a penalty, which is unenforceable in a consumer contract.


3. Can they affect my credit rating?

NO! The only way your credit rating could be affected by ignoring private parking companies is if you were taken to court, lost, and then still refused to pay. But they will not take you to court.


IN SHORT

The vast majority of the time, you can safely IGNORE tickets from private parking companies, they are not official fines.

The vast majority of the time, you can safely IGNORE the threatening letters, including those from debt collection agencies.

You DO NOT have to pay a penny of your hard-earned money to these companies. Remember that the chances of being taken to court are very slim indeed.

DO NOT IGNORE COURT PAPERS!
If you receive real court papers from a private parking company (very rare) then you should go to http://forums.pepipoo.com or http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...affic-offences for help defending the claim. Do not be afraid to sign up and ask questions regarding any paperwork you are not sure about.



Don’t believe the above? Watch a solicitor on Watchdog advising you what to do with the scam invoices.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAIcdi9niHA

THEY ARE NOT FINES

Only the Police, Courts or Council’s can fine you. NOT a private company, please remember that.

jackieb

I have sympathy for him but it's not really any different from an able-bodied person not being able to find a space to park in and then parking illegally so they can attend an appointment. They might not have a blue badge but they may be ill and not really able to walk far either. How do they who hand out fines differentiate from that? I don't really see the need for him to roll his trousers up so we can see his artificial leg either. If it was the reporters idea then they should be ashamed of themselves.

Starrystarrynight

Parking is a massive problem at this hospital and, to make it worse, it's one where you pay on exit if I remember rightly. They wanted to charge us when we left the hospital after my mam died very suddenly.

trisontana

Except he wasn't parked "illegally" and it wasn't a "fine", as this was private land where statute laws about parking do not apply. This is a civil matter, and all that the NHS trust can claim is for actual material loss that they have suffered. This amounts to a big fat zero. Anything above that would be considered an unfair penalty.

Coupon-mad

jackieb wrote: »

I have sympathy for him but it's not really any different from an able-bodied person not being able to find a space to park in and then parking illegally so they can attend an appointment. They might not have a blue badge but they may be ill and not really able to walk far either. How do they who hand out fines differentiate from that? I don't really see the need for him to roll his trousers up so we can see his artificial leg either. If it was the reporters idea then they should be ashamed of themselves.

jackieb read what trisontana has said.

You are wrong because you cannot park illegally on private land - in fact in most Counties in the UK you would be hard-pressed to 'park illegally' (i.e. criminally) at all even on the street, since even Councils operate decriminalised parking.

Certainly with private tickets it's not an offence, not a real fine. It can be ignored. I really hope you take that on board - as a very regular MSEer with five stars - and realise that it really is a bogus ticket, fake fine = SCAM. Read up on it on the board if you still doubt us:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

The people who should be ashamed of themselves are the private parking company who will now spend six months or so frightening this chap with debt collector letters if he hasn't paid up. That's the shocking aspect of this so-called 'industry'.

jackieb

Fair enough. I don't agree with private parking companies - they tend to be sharks, but my post still stands. I've hardly been able to get round our local hospital carpark for people parked where they're not supposed to. His gripe seems to be that he got a ticket where others who were parked illegally (his words, not mine) didn't. Would it have made him feel better if they'd all been targeted?

SickOfItAll_2

I frequent this hospital regularly and disabled spaces are usually taken. Often most able-bodied
places are taken too. I used to drive just past the South entrance and park on the double-yellow
lines and display the blue badge. I was never bothered and there was a long line of cars doing the
same thing. It's a one-way road and there is lots of room for ambulances to get by. However, on
my last visit a sign had been erected saying 'no parking at any time' and the yellow lines had been
replaced with double red lines. It might be argued that this is a strategy to keep the road clear but
it seemed clear enough with cars parked there to me - is it a strategy to force people to park
illegally elsewhere so they can be 'fined'?

taffy056

jackieb wrote: »

Fair enough. I don't agree with private parking companies - they tend to be sharks, but my post still stands. I've hardly been able to get round our local hospital carpark for people parked where they're not supposed to. His gripe seems to be that he got a ticket where others who were parked illegally (his words, not mine) didn't. Would it have made him feel better if they'd all been targeted?

My local hospitals, there are 3 large ones near to me, all have free parking for the staff and patients visitors, there is no parking problems, there are no PPCs scamming people, funny it works now, after the Welsh assembly declared free parking at NHS trusts, and those trusts kicked out the scammers!

Coupon-mad

SickOfItAll wrote: »

I frequent this hospital regularly and disabled spaces are usually taken. Often most able-bodied
places are taken too. I used to drive just past the South entrance and park on the double-yellow
lines and display the blue badge. I was never bothered and there was a long line of cars doing the
same thing. It's a one-way road and there is lots of room for ambulances to get by. However, on
my last visit a sign had been erected saying 'no parking at any time' and the yellow lines had been
replaced with double red lines. It might be argued that this is a strategy to keep the road clear but
it seemed clear enough with cars parked there to me - is it a strategy to force people to park
illegally elsewhere so they can be 'fined'?

If the Hospital are not providing sufficient disabled accessible spaces for the need then disabled drivers/passengers would be within their rights to lodge a complaint against the hospital/NHS Trust under the Equality Act.

Sounds like they certainly need more disabled bays now that the Council has seen fit to make the street outside a red route. If the Hospital/NHS Trust don't provide enough they can find themselves facing a REAL fine, much higher than this fake one!

jackieb why blame the motorist for the failings of the NHS Trust? I see what you are saying about Hospital car parks often being full - it's true. But why is that the motorist's fault, if he/she is disabled then he/she is entitled to expect 'reasonable adjustments' under the DDA (Equality Act 2010 now) from any retailer or service provider and he can sue if they neglect to deliver that provision.