Hospital Complaint For Breach Of Equality Act 2010

bazster

That's good.

Fergie76

Had a 2nd reply back from the hospital today. Still not budging.

Umkomaas

The length (and public expense) they are going to to protect their parking pariah seems to know no bounds. A simple cancellation would resolve everything - and save the taxpayer a significant burden.

Fergie76

Either way, I am not paying, unless I lose in court. So I think even if they did cancel the ticket now, I would probably pursue the complaint as a matter of principle.

Fruitcake

The hospital just doesn't get it and still hasn't answered the questions put.

The BPA CoP clearly says not to ticket a car with a Blue Badge, but that is exactly what has happened. The hospital therefore are complicit in this breach of the CoP.

The hospital still don't understand the issue relating to a situation where the car is not parked in a disabled bay but one or more of its occupents is disabled. A person's disability doesn't vanish just because the car is parked in bay without a picture of a wheelchair.

Coupon-mad

I would reply and say something like:


How does LNWHT justify positively making due allowance for the needs of ONLY A SET NUMBER OF 'FIRST COME FIRST SERVED' disabled people, when using the car parks'? To be clear, the driver was not expecting, necessarily, to use a disabled bay if they were all full. Nor do we necessarily expect free parking but we DO expect not to pay the same amount for the same parking time, as able bodied motorists, as that is illegal.

A disabled driver CANNOT be charged the same as able bodied people for the same parking time and the Medway NHS Trust case shows you exactly that point:

http://www.disabledmotoring.org/campaigns/hospital-parking-charges

This isn't a game of musical chairs where the last one standing (without a special bay) loses out! To be serious, you are not allowed to restrict the reasonable adjustment only to a certain number of disabled users. You can limit the total number of disabled bays (within reason) - yes, of course - as clearly they cannot unlimited due to space. But you cannot lawfully restrict the provisions you are extending, in terms of payment adjustments, as that is wholly unreasonable. You would not be able to justify this in court because the steps needed to put right the detriment could not be simpler and would cost you nothing (i.e. to remedy this EA breach, the NHS Trust simply needs to tell APCOA that all disabled Blue Badge holders must be treated the same, regardless of where they have to park). The Blue badge shows APCOA that there is/was a disabled person on board, wherever they end up parked and that driver must be allowed the same 'adjusted paid time' provision as the next disabled person.

As service providers, I contend that both APCOA and LNWHT have indeed breached the Equality Act 2010 at this particular car park site, every time they charge a person displaying a Blue Badge, the same as able bodied people, for the same parking time.

The EA says:

EQUALITY ACT 2010
Unenforceable terms
142(1) A term of a contract is unenforceable against a person in so far as it constitutes, promotes or provides for treatment of that or another person that is of a description prohibited by this Act.

144(1) A term of a contract is unenforceable by a person in whose favour it would operate in so far as it purports to exclude or limit a provision of or made under this Act.

Kindly explain how you have not 'excluded' certain disabled people and 'limited' the provision. I am NOT talking about the number of disabled bays, remember. I suggest the trust and APCOA need to read the EHRC statutory Code of Practice for Service Providers, about the Equality Act 2010. Would you like me to refer this issue to Unity Trust or DMUK or Disability Now? Please respond with more knowledge of the Act as your replies so far display a lack of understanding of your legal duties and I infer from your protestations, a determination to discriminate against a number of your disabled patients. This cannot be a numbers game.

kind regards,

Fergie76

They have confused me a bit, as I don't think I sent them an email on the 19 Oct. I sent one on the 17th complaining about Mr Munn's previous reply and then I got a snotty email back saying they were not going to answer anymore and that's when I complained to the CEO, so I wasn't expecting this reply. I am still waiting on one from the CEO.

I still have one card left up my sleeve that I haven't played yet and that is my wife's actual condition and why it was imperative that we parked where we did and not drive around the other car parks looking for another disabled bay and because of my wife's condition there are most certainly not making reasonable adjustment.

Coupon-mad

This is like Animal Farm only the NHS Trust is saying 'all disabled people are equal - but some are more equal than others' (if they get a special bay they get better treatment). That is like an employer saying that their disabled employees who sit at desks by the window can have a reasonable adjustment of, say, a 10 minute break every 2 hours (if applicable to their condition) but not a person with the same medical issue who happens to be seated elsewhere.

It is ridiculous.

Fergie76

Finally found the email, in which the reply below responds to, just posting both together to keep it tidy and relevant:

Even confusing myself now. :rotfl:

[FONT=&quot]I am somewhat confused by Mr Munn’s reply, as I only asked one question and he didn’t actually answer it in his ramble, you did at the end.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Can I just clarify what you mean by ‘it would form part of the contract with APCOA that they have issued this PCN’? Can you please responded by the end of today, as I will be submitting my POPLA appeal this weekend.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Do you mean:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]It is part of the contract the Trust has formed with APCOA.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]The driver of the car on the day in question agreed to pay this amount, by parking in that bay.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]3. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]The driver has breached the terms of the contract, so therefore owes this sum as compensation.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Do you know that your car park signs used the word penalty (see illegal sign picture), until June this year? It was only when I complained to the BPA that signs were changed and APCOA were given penalty points by the BPA. And by change I mean they stuck a bit of blue tape over the line that contained the word penalty (see photo 2). [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Also, as Mr Munn likes the signs so much, can you please tell me where on the sign it says, the PCN is £60? (see photo 1). Therefore, as there is nothing to mention this, there is no way the driver on the day in question could have agreed to pay this amount as part of any contract. Therefore, when I looked at your website, it quite clearly stated that this sum was a penalty and that it should only have been £30. As private companies, either you or APCOA can’t issue penalties, I deem that this PCN has been wrongly issued. That is even before I address Mr Munn’s bizarre reply, which I will do in a formal reply to your reply to my complaint.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]BPA AOS COP states:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]19.5 If the parking charge that the driver is being asked to pay is for a breach of contract or act of trespass, this charge must be based on the genuine pre-estimate of loss that you suffer. We would not expect this amount to be more than £100. If the charge is more than this, operators must be able to justify the amount in advance. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Mr Munn also missed or failed to comment on the other breach of the BPA AOS COP which I included in my appeal to POPLA:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
I wish to appeal against the above parking charge as I was not the driver at the time of the event. The driver was also parked displaying a blue badge and the BPA AOS COP specifically states:

16. If your landowner provides a concession that allows parking for disabled people, if a vehicle displays a valid Blue Badge you must not issue it with parking charge notices.
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Notice it does not state that the car has to be parked in a disabled bay at the time of parking, just displaying a blue badge.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]So despite claiming in your complaint reply that APCOA abide by the BPA AOS COP, since being awarded Park Mark status on 2 Jun 14, I have highlighted to clear breaches of the code. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]But please be advised that if APCOA want to waste £27 plus VAT taking this to POPLA, then that’s fine as it costs me nothing and I will win.[/FONT]

Fergie76 wrote: »

Had a 2nd reply back from the hospital today. Still not budging.

Still waiting on a reply from the CEO to my letter to him, that is due by the 24th. However, I have had an out of office reply from him saying he hopes to be back in office end of Nov/early Dec. So it will be interesting to see how he manages that.

Also, I am expecting my POPLA appeal on the 25 Nov, but not yet received the PPC's pack, is it week before that you should receive that? If so, that's Tuesday.

Fergie76

Just had. Reply back from my MP, Gary Streeter in reply to my email to him in post 131, could he have been anymore patronising? Thanks for this...

Thanks for this
I am not sure I can add anything to what I have already said. It may be that you should take legal advice if you feel there has been a breach of the law