Hospital staff car park PCN help needed

creamcake7

***Updated on 27th Jan - page 2 ****


Please advise as I am now feeling physically sick with the distress this PCN is causing me .

Bear with me whilst I give some background details ...

I work at a NHS Hospital trust and due to current health issues have been granted a parking permit in the staff car park for which I pay through my monthly salary. The permit is on a three monthly review basis.

On the 6th Sept I had an email from the car park office from the trust advising I should bring my old permit to the office in order for it to be renewed. I did this but this then left my car without a permit displayed, but as I was following guidance from the car park office I felt it was OK.

On the 8th October I had a letter from Legion Group stating a PCN had been affixed to my windscreen on the 6th Sept and a penalty had not been paid. This was the first I heard about this.
I mistakenly did not act on it straight away but I did contact the car park office to try and gain evidence that I had been trying to get the permit renewed at the time.

On the 24th Oct I attempted to appeal through the Legion group website but was unable to as it stated I was too late. On reading the letter again I saw I needed to appeal within 14 days of the date of the letter (7th October) .

I then started an email conversation with Legion group requesting to appeal but they kept insisting that as I was over the 28 days after the date of the PCN I was too late to appeal , they claimed I had to appeal by the 4th October.
This has carried on and on with me emailing them that the first I had heard about it was on 7th October, but today I have recent letter from a Debt recovery plus demanding £149 car parking charge!

Earlier today I emailed the car park office manager, she advised me that the PCN was valid as I had not displayed a valid permit and that two earlier warnings had also been issued. I now realise that the slips of paper left on my windscreen each of the previous two times I have had to remove my permit in order to have it renewed are what has constituted warnings, but again this was only done in accordance with emails from the car park office.

I am sorry for rambling but I now really don't know what to do , I feel ill with worry.

I hope someone will advise and I'm happy to answer any questions as this has been a bit of ramble !!

catfunt

You need to edit your post and break it up into paragraphs - sounds daft and petty, but it really does make it easier to read and digest when there are hundreds of posts on this forum every week.

Once you have done that,you are more likely to get help and advice.

Letters from debt recovery companies can be ignored, they are toothless and cannot take you to court themselves.

creamcake7

catfunt wrote: »

You need to edit your post and break it up into paragraphs - sounds daft and petty, but it really does make it easier to read and digest when there are hundreds of posts on this forum every week.

Once you have done that,you are more likely to get help and advice.

Letters from debt recovery companies can be ignored, they are toothless and cannot take you to court themselves.

Thank you I will do that .. Sorry

Redx

IGNORE drp , they are powerless

your office manager has failed in her duty of care towards you as a staff member

they should have waived the charges and should be following the NHS guidelines, as follows

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

you were following instructions and as such the circumstances were beyond your control, as seen on those guidelines which were issued 2 years ago and amended 12 months ago

the trust are jointly and severally liable along with LEGION , so you should be getting on this managers case and also involving your union rep too , kick up a fuss as you are paying for this and the trust should be putting vehicles on a computerised "whitelist" , not using out of date methods like "parking permits"

it is time these trusts were dragged into the information technological age !!!

tell them that if this goes to court you will be making a counter claim against the trust and calling them to court to explain their ludicrous decisions. there was no intention to defraud and so a judge may well find in your favour

and did I mention ? IGNORE DRP

thank you for breaking up that wall of text, it really annoys me that thread after thread has no carriage returns (new lines) in them , nor paragraphs, to make them readable, yet tonight there have been several with no spacings whatsoever

thanks again

creamcake7

Thank you Redx , I feel a lot better after reading your post.

steve1500

Which Trust

creamcake7

steve1500 wrote: »

Which Trust

I'm really sorry Steve but I can't name as its too detailed and especially as the office manager is involved it's quite personal.

Umkomaas

Here's some details about the PPC - OCS (T/A The Legion Group).

https://bmpa.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/203631831-OCS-Group-Legion-

Only ever been to the small claims court twice - and there's nothing to suggest either of these was parking related (could have been supplier issues), had either been parking related someone here would remember.

http://www.bmpa.eu/companydata/OCS_Group_UK.html

Whilst no one can guarantee what their future behaviour will be, there's nothing to suggest that they would chance their arm against a hospital member of staff who is paying monthly from salary for the right to park.

creamcake7

Umkomaas wrote: »

Here's some details about the PPC - OCS (T/A The Legion Group).

https://bmpa.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/203631831-OCS-Group-Legion-

Only ever been to the small claims court twice - and there's nothing to suggest either of these was parking related (could have been supplier issues), had either been parking related someone here would remember.

http://www.bmpa.eu/companydata/OCS_Group_UK.html

Whilst no one can guarantee what their future behaviour will be, there's nothing to suggest that they would chance their arm against a hospital member of staff who is paying monthly from salary for the right to park.

Thank you - I do feel a bit better after posting on here

But I am now starting to feel sick at the thought of going back to work tomorrow as I think I need to respond to the office manager . I'm not part of a union and I really don't want to be seen as causing trouble - I don't know what to do , please advise how I should proceed.

DollyDee_2

How did you get on at work creamcake7?




Have you seen this thread?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5553960

Guys_Dad

You take in the letter instructing you to bring in the pass. You then tell the office manager that you complied and that their instructions were solely responsible for your ticket.
You further add that if the charge is not removed in 7 days, you will hold the author responsible, you will contact the chair of the trust, and the local papers plus Daily Mail.
You also hand over a short letter confirming what you have told them.

If your post is accurate and you haven't missed out anything, there is zero chance of them getting a result in court.