Hospital Complaint For Breach Of Equality Act 2010

ampersand

Minor tweaks here:

'A disabled person, by the nature of their disability, will take longer to get in and out of their car and get to wherever they need to be. To charge them the same as an able-bodied person for parking in a normal parking bay puts them at a financial disadvantage.'

You've worked well at this. We're prepping to sort out Amy Riley as we speak - needs further training, genuinely. Over-excited newbie - like some we see here:-)

Fergie76

Fergie76 wrote: »

Finally got around to doing my reply to the above. Apologies it's a bit long. As ever, helpful comments are welcome. I will be emailing it off in the morning.

[FONT=&quot]I write in reply to your letter at Reference B and also wish to raise other matters of complaint that have come to my attention since my first letter at Reference A. I am disappointed that you have not taken my complaint seriously or bothered to read it properly. I will take each of your replies in turn where I am unhappy with the response.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Breach of Equality Act 2010[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]You have stated in your reply that APCOA are not in breach of the above act. This is where you have not bothered to read my complaint properly. Nowhere in my complaint did I accuse APCOA of breaching the above act. I said that the Trust has broken the Equality Act, it is your car park and you are responsible for it and the actions of any agents you employ to run it on your behalf.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The Equality Act 2010 Part 2 Chapter 2 Section 20 Paragraph 3 states:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] The first requirement is a requirement, where a provision, criterion or practice of A's puts a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage in relation to a relevant matter in comparison with persons who are not disabled, to take such steps as it is reasonable to have to take to avoid the disadvantage.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]As the NHS Trust/APCOA state that free parking is only applicable to cars parked in a disabled bay, displaying a blue badge, they are not only discriminating against a disabled person compared to an able-bodied person, but also compared against a disabled person who was able to park in a disabled bay for free. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]As a disabled person, by the nature of their disability will take longer to get in and out of their car and to get to wherever they need to be; to charge them same as an abled-bodied person for parking in normal parking bay, puts them at a financial disadvantage as they will need to pay more for longer for parking time. So therefore in accordance with Sect 20 para 20 above, the NHS Trust/APCOA is not taking the reasonable steps to avoid the disadvantage and is therefore discrimination.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Whilst I agree that the act does not specify that a private car park has to provide free parking for disabled people, it does give you a duty to make reasonable adjustments and not to discriminate based on disability. Charging a disabled person the same rate for parking as an abled-bodied person, when by the nature of their disabilities will take longer and therefore have to pay more parking, is not making reasonable adjustments.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Notice to Keeper / Blue Badge Scheme[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]In your reply you say about the terms and conditions which are displayed on the signage and that it states free parking is only allowed in the disabled bays displaying a blue badge. I have already covered above why I think this is discrimination, but I will add that putting terms and conditions on your signs, does not allow you to ignore the law of the Equality Act 2010. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]As laid down in The Blue Badge Handbook which you have quote in your reply, although I note that you omitted the important bit, that the blue badge scheme does not apply to private land such as hospitals:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] The Blue Badge Scheme[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]A Blue Badge will help you to park close to your destination, either as a passenger or driver. However, the badge is intended for on-street parking only. Off-street car parks, such as those provided in local authority, hospital or supermarket car parks are governed by separate rules.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Therefore insisting that a blue badge is displayed can also be considered discriminatory, as not everyone who has protected characteristics as covered by the EA10 may have one and yet you still have a duty of care as described by the above act to make reasonable adjustment for them. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Number of Disabled Bays[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The driver on the day of the incident parked in car park 3 which does only have one disabled bay. There are only about 15 parking spaces in this car park, which as already said, one is a disabled bay. There is further parking the other side of the barriers, but there are signs which state this staff parking only.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Parking Charge Notices [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]In your reply you state that all parking charge notices are £60. This is not stipulated on the signs, see Annex A, therefore I had to refer to your website, which said Penalty Notices are £30.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]British Parking Association[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Yes, APCOA are members of the BPA and as such have signed up to the AOS Code of Practice (AOS COP). However, being members signed up to the AOS COP and adhering to it are two different things.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]First breach – When I visited the same car park in June 14, the signs clearly had the word penalty on them, see Annex B. I reported this breach to the BPA and APCOA were made to change their signs and were awarded penalty points by the BPA. To change the signs all APCOA did were to cover the sentence containing the word penalty with blue tape. As no other bits of the sign were changed, I have to assume, in accordance with your website site which confirms this, that the sum you/APCOA are trying to extract is a penalty. Therefore I put it to you again; under what authority are you trying to claim this penalty.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Second breach – Section 16.5 of the BPA AOS COP says:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]16.5 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]

[FONT=&quot]So in accordance with AOS COP, APCOA should not have issued a parking charge notice as you as landowner provide a concession for disabled people. You will note from the above paragraph that it does not state that this is only applicable to the disabled bays.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Third breach – Pretending for a minute that it is not a penalty and that it is a contractual charge the BPA AOS COP states:[/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]Forth Breach – The BPA AOS COP places high importance on Entrance Signs:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]18.2 Entrance signs play an important part in establishing a parking contract and deterring trespassers. Therefore, as well as the signs you must have telling drivers about the terms and conditions for parking, you must also have a standard form of entrance sign at the entrance to the parking area. Entrance signs must tell drivers that the car park is managed and that there are terms and conditions they must be aware of. Entrance signs must follow some minimum general principles and be in a standard format. The size of the sign must take into account the expected speed of vehicles approaching the car park, and it is recommended that you follow Department for Transport guidance on this. See Appendix B for an example of an entrance sign and more information about their use.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]There is no entrance signs at the entrance to the hospital, car park 3 or the car park at the St Marks entrance to the hospital.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]The £60 charge cannot be a genuine pre-estimate of loss or else you would not be able to offer a 50% discount if paid within 14 days or else you would be losing money on each and every ticket paid within the 14 days. Can you please provide me, under the Freedom of Information Act, a copy of your genuine pre-estimate of loss? Bearing in mind that you cannot look to cover costs, where there has been none in the first place. Please do not refer me to APCOA for this, they are your Agents and I am requesting that you supply the information as they are issuing these penalties on your behalf.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Do you condone your Agents openly and blatantly breaching their own Trade Associations rules for profit, as clearly is happening here? Remember people have to visit hospitals out of necessity and not for fun and you and your Agents are looking to gain profit from this.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Freedom of Information Request [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]As part of my original complaint I asked for certain information and I was assured that this would be dealt with, within the correct timeframes. The correct timeframe, for dealing with such requests, in case you are not familiar with it, is:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]When you’ll get a response[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]You should get the information within 20 working days. The organisation will tell you when to expect the information if they need more time.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]At no time within the 20 working days did your organisation contact me to tell me they would need more time. Your FOI team did contact me requesting more information on 2 Oct 14. I have emailed Peter Hare and Adesuwa Idahosa numerous times to try and find out when I will receive a response as I was relying on this information for my POPLA appeal. Adesuwa Idahosa eventually contacted me last Tuesday 14 Oct 14 saying I could expect a reply within 5 working days, which was up yesterday and yet I am still waiting. I have given the Trust every opportunity to reply and you have now left me with no option, but to report the Trust to Information Commissioners Office for breach of the Freedom of Information Act.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Contact with the Trust[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Since my complaint I have had email contact with the Trust through Peter Hare and Adesuwa Idahosa. Mr Hare in the main has been helpful, but there have been times when replies have been delayed due to Mr Hare waiting on answers from another department, even though the information I was requiring was time-bound as I had to submit my POPLA appeal. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]On Friday 17 Oct 14, I emailed Mr Hare on PatientRelations (NORTH WEST LONDON HOSPITALS NHS TRUST) [EMAIL="nwlh-tr.PatientRelations@nhs.net"]nwlh-tr.PatientRelations@nhs.net[/EMAIL] and I asked for a reply the same day to allow me to submit my POPLA appeal over the weekend. I did not receive a reply on Friday and the email was not read until Monday 20 Oct 14 and I am still awaiting the reply. This information was to be a major part of my POPLA appeal and has now put be at a disadvantage. If I didn’t know better, I would think this was deliberate…[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I think the hospital can improve their communications by telling people if they are waiting on information from other departments and when they expect to have that information and also by using Out of Office on emails when not in office, with an alternative contact and expected date of return.[/FONT]

Fergie76

Well that is my reply sent, I tweaked it slightly this morning from above.

I have also submitted a complaint to the ICO for breach of the FOI.

tykesi

Really admire your tenacity on this. Those replies from the Trust are a joke and they should have realised a long time ago they're not dealing with someone who will just give up and go away - keep up the good work

bazster

At some point you may want to try involving your MP.

Fergie76

tykesi wrote: »

Really admire your tenacity on this. Those replies from the Trust are a joke and they should have realised a long time ago they're not dealing with someone who will just give up and go away - keep up the good work

Thanks. I love complaining. :rotfl:Especially when it's against big organisations, who think they can do what they want.

Complaining is not something we do enough of in this country, although it should always be a valid complaint and not complaining just for complaining sake.

Fergie76

bazster wrote: »

At some point you may want to try involving your MP.

I was just thinking that myself. As the hospital is not local to me, I was thinking of involving both my MP and the hospital's MP, as if I remember correctly and got the right MP, the hospital's local MP has been critical of private parking charges in the past, when I googled him.

Fergie76

Wow, wow, wow.

So I sent off the reply (above) to the complaint this morning, along with a wee paragraph that I was unhappy that they had not got back to me or even acknowledged the email about the information I required for my POPLA appeal that I sent on Friday and received this reply about half an hour ago. Luckily I was out walking the dog at the time and it allowed me to calm down a bit and from sending off a rather angry response. Judging by the reply, they have not even bothered to read by complaint reply.

Any suggestions on my next move are most welcome, but I will certainly be contacting my MP and the hospital's MP and I will be phoning the hospitals CEO tomorrow.

[FONT=&quot]I apologise for the delay in acknowledging your request for further information. The department is short of three staff just now and there is quite a burden on time. I am sorry that we missed your acknowledgement.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]You should lodge your appeal within the stated period. The purpose of the NHS Complaints Procedure is to provide resolution for patients and associates in addressing their concerns about the services offered for their care, treatment and support. The circumstances about which you are aggrieved are governed by organisations outside of the NHS system. The complaints process describes timescales in which we endeavour to find resolutions, but same day or shorter notice response may not be able to be accomplished for a variety of reasons.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]If you have issues with the operation of the parking system where you feel it is contrary to the guidance provided by BCP, there is a process within that organisation whereby you may bring your concerns to their attention. I believe that the response you have received has addressed your concerns from the Trust’s position, but that there is a separate facility available for you to express your concerns which relate to the governance of parking operators.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I hope that you obtain some resolution through that route, and I again apologise that you felt left in limbo without an acknowledgement.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Yours sincerely,[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]James Nugent[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Patient Relations Manager (Interim) [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Patient Relations Office[/FONT]

Fergie76

That's emails sent to my MP and the MP who's constituency that the hospital is in.

Guys_Dad

The chief adjudicator at POPLA has stated in writing in his recent annual statement that matters of Equality are NOT an issue for POPLA as there are other courts that deal with that, so I would not hold out too much hope for a win on EA grounds.