hospital parking scotland

zee_2

my son took his wife to local borders hospital for a medical appointment and accompanied her in as she felt unwell, she had reaction to medication given and was ill for a few hours before he could help her to car...on it was parking fine £90 or £60 if paid earlier. my son never left his wife while in hospital for what was expected to be 1-2 hours ,but was 7 hours and he was very worried to think of anything else.....it seems so unfair,.

bod1467

Who issued the ticket?

Read the NEWBIES thread. Search this forum for Scotland.

And go and vote (if you haven't already).

Umkomaas

And make a very strong complaint to the hospital. Don't forget that Jeremy Hunt has issued clear guidance to hospitals about employing predatory PPCs who threaten, persecute and profit from the sick and vulnerable.

Oh - just remembered, he's got no clout up there. Maybe tomorrow Alex and Nicola will shunt them all out - most of them are English firms anyway.

AltheHibby

Don't panic. Ignoring still works up here.

nigelbb

What was the parking contravention? I thought that parking was all free at NHS Scotland hospitals.

pogofish

nigelbb wrote: »

What was the parking contravention? I thought that parking was all free at NHS Scotland hospitals.

Nope - Hospitals or parts of hospitals funded by PFI schemes were allowed to continue charging as the legal issues involved in amending the contracts were deemed too complex.

Iceweasel

pogofish wrote: »

Nope - Hospitals or parts of hospitals funded by PFI schemes were allowed to continue charging as the legal issues involved in amending the contracts were deemed too complex.

The offenders who are still charging are:

The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh,
Ninewells Hospital Dundee,
and Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

But the contracts will not be renewed when they expire.

All others are free.

Umkomaas

And the parking companies will no doubt be gorging at the table while the opportunity still presents itself.

nigelbb

Iceweasel wrote: »

The offenders who are still charging are:

The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh,
Ninewells Hospital Dundee,
and Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

But the contracts will not be renewed when they expire.

All others are free.

The OP stated

my son took his wife to local borders hospital

so this was not in one of the hospitals that charges for car parking.

Judging by this report on the BBC website of 'fines' for parking for longer than four hours the contravention was most likely an overstay in a free car park.

pogofish

Here is the hospital page on parking - I see the company involved is Nisister Baywatch:

http://www.nhsborders.scot.nhs.uk/patients-and-visitors/going-to-hospital/car-parking-at-the-bgh/

They seem to suggest that have found a way round the restriction on charging...?

Some previous press coverage:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-24669273

http://www.itv.com/news/border/update/2013-12-03/parking-fiasco-at-borders-general-hospital/

http://www.bordertelegraph.com/news/melrose/articles/2014/04/06/493580-bgh-parking-getting-worse/

nigelbb

pogofish wrote: »

Here is the hospital page on parking - I see the company involved is Nisister Baywatch:

http://www.nhsborders.scot.nhs.uk/patients-and-visitors/going-to-hospital/car-parking-at-the-bgh/

They seem to suggest that have found a way round the restriction on charging...?

The guidance suggest that if charging is necessary that it should be a maximum of £3 per day (1/30 of the sum claimed in this case) & also that

here is a risk that at some sites a £3:00 maximum charge might lead to increased congestion as a result of people parking for long periods. A time limit in
12
car parks designated for patient parking may be one approach to preventing this. A time limit of around four hours already operates in a number of patient car parks, and has proved sufficient to cover most patient needs. Where a patient, or their visitor, is required for legitimate reasons to park for longer, hospitals must put in place arrangements to ensure that they are not penalised for this.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/924/0055469.pdf

The basic problem that they are trying to solve by 'fining' motorists
is that there are not sufficient car parking spaces to satisfy the needs of staff, patients & visitors. A better solution would be to provide more spaces.