Oxford JR Hospital

Kanga59

I ignored a parking charge notice from the hospitals parking company. And I've now received a court claim form. Whoops!

I was parked near A&E and have parked there many times over the last two years (one of my children has a significant health problem requiring frequent A&E trips). On the day in question, there had been some new parking road markings painted which I didn't pay too much attention to because I was in a bit of a flap about my son.

There were 4 bays to choose from. I can't recall what they all said but I parked in the one that was marked "cars" - this was new signage and in yellow.

When I came out of A&E I had a ticket. And I looked round and the yellow road markings across the 4 bays actually said something like [emergency] [ambulance] [cars] [and doctor only]. So this was one long message meaning that only emergency ambulance cars and doctors were only allowed to park there. I incorrectly chose the bay that said "cars" thinking I could park there in my car. The writing words were not written uniformly next to each other, like one sentence. There were irregular gaps between the words so that the message could be spread across the 4 bays.

I haven't parked there since because I now understand what they are saying. Do you have any advice for how I should proceed? It was a £50 fine which I ignore. I have been sent a court claim form for £50 plus court fee £35 plus legal costs £50.

Kanga59

I've just re read the paperwork and the 4 words across the bays, one word in each bay, were ambulance car bay only. I saw the first bay said ambulance so I didn't park there. I parked in the next one that said car.

Umkomaas

Which parking company?

Have you asked PALS to intervene on your behalf?

Have you read the newbies FAQ sticky, post #1, with the link to bargepole's input 'Small Claim?'

Coupon-mad

Tell us when you've acknowledged the claim and tried a PALS complaint.

Make those your priorities and if PALS or the NHS Trust Facilities Manager do not cancel this, you will have to write a defence this month.

YOU DO NOT SUBMIT THE DEFENCE YET. But just to point you in the right direction:

There's a ParkingEye example defence in a thread about Welcome Break at the moment, which you could adapt and remove the bits about the driver 'charging an ECO car' and put in stuff about 'parking in a bay marked ambiguously with the single word 'car'.

But the defence is for in a couple of weeks time. ACKNOWLEDGE first, and COMPLAIN to the Hospital.

Kanga59

Thank you for the advice. I contacted pals and explained the situ. They contacted the parking manage and this is the response. I guess I need to appeal it and go to court?

Thank you for your email. I have been advised by our Travel and Transport Department that this is being handled by a third-party solicitors, Trethowans, who are contracted by the Trust. Two letters were sent by the solicitors. The first letter was sent on 27/04/2016 and the second letter was sent on 02/06/2016. No response was received to either.

Following your email, the Trust’s Property Services Manager has spoken to our solicitors and they have advised that given that Court proceedings have been issued we cannot put a hold on the proceedings. They haven’t been sent the date that the proceedings were served yet but you will have 14 days from the date of service to file a response to the claim. We would like to emphasise that this matter has not been put on hold, as this is not within our power at this stage.

Kanga59

I keep seeing references of notice to keeper on the forum. What is this and should I have one?

Coupon-mad

Yes it would have been the first letter after the windscreen PCN and - at least at Aintree NHS Trust, who also rip people off with court cases for daring to park at a Hospital - Trethowans do send one (of sorts) with columns and figures on it.

Half_way

Kanga59 wrote: »

Thank you for the advice. I contacted pals and explained the situ. They contacted the parking manage and this is the response. I guess I need to appeal it and go to court?

Thank you for your email. I have been advised by our Travel and Transport Department that this is being handled by a third-party solicitors, Trethowans, who are contracted by the Trust. Two letters were sent by the solicitors. The first letter was sent on 27/04/2016 and the second letter was sent on 02/06/2016. No response was received to either.

Following your email, the Trust’s Property Services Manager has spoken to our solicitors and they have advised that given that Court proceedings have been issued we cannot put a hold on the proceedings. They haven’t been sent the date that the proceedings were served yet but you will have 14 days from the date of service to file a response to the claim. We would like to emphasise that this matter has not been put on hold, as this is not within our power at this stage.

they are lying to you, The principal, in this case the Hospital can instruct their agents ( the parking company/trethowens) to cancel at any time upto the day of court ( or possibly even on the day)
The case that references this is Sadler vs Leigh , see link below ( courtesy of pepipoo
http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=40037

Dear facilities managment, regarding the previouis letter.
You have stated that "the Trust’s Property Services Manager has spoken to our solicitors and they have advised that given that Court proceedings have been issued we cannot put a hold on the proceedings."
Either you are deliberately trying to deceive me, or you are unaware of the facts.
I do not appreciate being lied to, as you should be aware the Principal , in this case Aintree Hospitals NHS Trust can instruct their agents, in this case Trethowens to cancel any court proceedings, at any time upto the very moment ta court hearing takes place ( and even up to the point of judgement) this was tested at a court of record in the Sadler vs Leigh case.

I am also aware that as a result of the NHS trusts attitude towards parking charge notices, Aintree NHS Trust has lost a significant amount of money- money that should be spent on vital health services and not victimising patients and visors
cases such as:
NHS Aintree Foundation Trust v Perera
Case no. 1UD12840
I am Also aware of a Freedom of Information Request ( Dating from 2013) Stating that the NHs Trust paid £116,000 and only recovered £5,000 as a result of court action.

Therefore in order to be reasonable, and to prevent any further waste of NHS funds, as well as wasting the courts time and money, I am instructing you to tell your agents to cancel the court proceedings ( as per Sadler vs Leigh) with immediate effect.
I shall also be submitting a formal complaint to the Secretary of state for Health, and to my local MP, highlighting Aintree NHS's previous cases, and the amounts of money wasted as per the FOI requests.
I am also minded to get in touch with the media / press as Aintree/Trethowens have already been featured in the media.

---

or something along the lines above, somewhere theres a list of Aintrees/Trethowens court antics

Coupon-mad

I was the only one to mention Aintree, as an example...sorry to muddy the waters a bit. But this one is Oxford John Radcliffe Hospital:

http://www.ouh.nhs.uk/patient-guide/transport-costs/parking-concessions.aspx

http://www.ouh.nhs.uk/hospitals/jr/find-us/car.aspx

Kanga 59, you said:

I was parked near A&E and have parked there many times over the last two years (one of my children has a significant health problem requiring frequent A&E trips).

So are you not allowed parking concessions/to be cut some slack, not sued?! You do need to spend some worthwhile time fighting this! See the above links and compare what has happened to you, to the Government Policy:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/hospitals-still-allowing-private-parking-firms-to-prey-on-visitors-with-penalty-fines-10047797.html

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles

Seems to me the NHS Trust have failed to follow the Govt Principles and may very probably have breached the Equality Act 2010 for failure to make 'reasonable adjustments' for a carer of a passenger with protected characteristics (a long term medical condition affecting daily living, likely to recur and last at least 12 months).

You were obviously not out to scam them or park wrongly. You parked a car in a bay marked 'car'. That's not ambiguous, it is a clear word!


HTH

Umkomaas

Get in touch with your local press. They'll love the 'poorly child' angle and the fact that the hospital, caring for that child over a number of years is suing the child's parents over a minor parking issue.

They will love even more the fact that the hard up NHS is prepared to waste disproportionate amounts of money via Trethowans in order to recoup insignificant amounts in parking charges.

Do some research on the expenditure Aintree has incurred at the hands of Trethowans and use that to bolster your case with the press. Even more, why not issue a Freedom of Information request to ask the hospital how much they've paid Trethowans to pursue parking cases over (say) the last three years and how much the hospital has recovered from those motorists pursued by Trethowans. They have to tell you.

Kanga59

Thank you all very much again.

I don't think the parking concessions will apply here as it was an A&E visit rather than an ongoing episode for which I was a visitor. Whenever my son has had inpatient stays lasting more than a few days, and there have been several, I always go to the parking office and get a permit.

This is the last thing I need at the minute but I am determined not to pay up and I would rather go to court and lose the money. What a waste of NHS funds, fighting charges like this.

I have just emailed PALS again along the line suggested above.