Wife in labour! Appeal rejected and now facing POPLA.

nick_j5

Hi. Can't seem to find a similar response to a question like this so here goes...

Wife went into very late stages of labour and arrived at the hospital with no time to spare to get a ticket (wife in extreme pain and as we soon found out, fully dilated). We went straight up and was told that we would be delivering within the hour. Arrived at hospital at 1:30pm and baby delivered at 2:50pm.

In that time I wasn't able to go back down to the car. When I did (later on, around 4) I found a ticket which was given at 3:20pm. I had been given a week permit to put in the car which is what families normally get when they have to stay in. I didn't get this til after all the drama was over.

Obviously I felt that we could quite easily appeal the ticket so I got a written letter from the head midwife at the time explaining the times and the circumstances. I appealed with the letter and they asked to send through the week permit I was given. I looked all over and couldn't find it. So, they rejected my appeal.

I now have to either pay £60 or go through POPLA. Question is, is it worth appealing, ignore or pay? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Quentin

Complain to the hospital.

Read up in the newbies FAQ thread near the top of the forum on how to prepare your appeal and post it here for comments

Edit your op to remove references to who was driving

Redx

DO NOT IGNORE

DO NOT PAY

appeal to POPLA using legal arguments

complain to PALS and insist on a cancellation

and quote the NHS guidelines at Pals and the TRUST as well

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

The_Deep

The Daily Mail mighrt be interested in this, they love to give PPCs a good
kicking.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4072180/How-hospitals-betray-patients-doing-deals-parking-cowboys.html

Half_way

Name of Hospital? - could be important as some places have 'free' NHS parking (ie Wales)
could also be a breach of NHS guidelines on parking
Name of Parking company? again could be important

nick_j5

Thanks for the replies. It's total parking solutions. I am going to complain to the hospital. Will the fact that i've already appealed affect the 'ignoring' step?

nick_j5

Oh, and it's St Michaels Hospital in Bristol

Half_way

Your dealings with the private parking company and the hospital with regards to parking are completely different, for any complaint to the Hospital you should go in armed with the NHS guidelines on car parks, see here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles
in particular

Contracted-out car parking

NHS organisations are responsible for the actions of private contractors who run car parks on their behalf.
NHS organisations should act against rogue contractors in line with the relevant codes of practice6where applicable.
Contracts should not be let on any basis that incentivises additional charges, eg ‘income from parking charge notices only’.

Most of the NHS sites i have heard about boast that they dont keep the money from fines ( as most nhs sites refer to them as) only that from the pay machines which puts them directly at odds with the NHS guidelines.
Also these are not fines, as private companies including NHS sites can not issue fines or penalities

Redx

nick_j5 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. It's total parking solutions. I am going to complain to the hospital.

Will the fact that i've already appealed affect the 'ignoring' step?

which IGNORING step ? ( which idiot told you to ignore" ? )

there is no "ignoring" step , apart from debt collector letters which may or may not arrive

its APPEAL and COMPLAIN , together, at the same time

no IGNORE

no PAY

NO admitting who was driving

Guys_Dad

Redx wrote: »

which IGNORING step ? ( which idiot told you to ignore" ? )

there is no "ignoring" step , apart from debt collector letters which may or may not arrive

its APPEAL and COMPLAIN , together, at the same time

no IGNORE

no PAY

NO admitting who was driving

In fairness, OP has already appealed and we do tell advise OPs to ignore (the IAS) after the appeal if PPC is an IPC PPC until court papers arrive.

Quentin

Guys_Dad wrote: »

In fairness, OP has already appealed and we do tell advise OPs to ignore (the IAS) after the appeal if PPC is an IPC PPC until court papers arrive.

This OP is dealing with a POPLA appeal and should not ignore that!