Free Parking...with validation

3xcookedchips

Got a response back from the Practice Manager,

[FONT=&quot]I am replying to your email dated <a date> and am sorry to learn that you have been issued with a parking ticket.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]<The Surgery> is a tenant in <Somewheresville Health Centre> along with all the other surgeries and hospital services found on the 1st floor. We pay rent to a private landlord who employ all the utility services for the building, including the car park monitoring company, Euro Parks. They had to introduce a system because commuters for the railway station were parking all day preventing visitors to the building being able to park for a maximum of two hours. Parking at <A Health Centre> is unfortunately the same as if you were to park in a private car park in <A> Town Centre. The rules are the same.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]There is car park information up on <The Surgery>!!!8217;s website for patients to follow and does advise that we cannot get involved in tickets issued as we do not own the car park, they are not our sub-contractor. Therefore, I would advise that you follow the advice on the penalty letter if you want to appeal.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I hope my response clarifies the position.[/FONT]

Coupon-mad

Reply and ask for the contact details of the private landlord so you may complain directly to them.

And ask how the 'validation' requirement is brought to the attention of ill patients by the reception staff, and why the Central Surgery is even getting involved in this regime, allowing keypads and fines against patients, if they say the parking firm is nothing to do with them?

Ask why the entire Health Centre are currently very seriously breaching the established and very clear Government policy on NHS car park enforcement:

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

3xcookedchips

This is my reply - is it suitable?

Thank you for your reply.


May I point out a few things:


<The Surgery> is not a shop or a store and neither am I a client or customer. I am a patient of yours to whom you have a duty of care ever patients are using your services including parking.


A statement on your website does not absolve you from those responsibilities when patients are using your services legitimately. As an NHS organisation the NHS guidelines are quite clear what your responsibilities are.


You may choose to ignore those responsibilities but at the very least you would be expected to have the demand set aside. At worst should matters escalate you may be party to any court proceedings, a waste of all of our time.


I would therefore be grateful if you would contact the landlord to have this demand put aside immediately. To do otherwise would mean you are complicit in the harrasmment and extortion of your patients. We should not be exposed to this behaviour.


Should I not receive satisfaction on this matter then I may need to involve my local MP to act on my behalf.

Coupon-mad

I am a patient of yours to whom you have a duty of care ever patients are using your services including parking.

Do you mean 'whenever'?

Give them a link to the Car Parking Principles and quote from it where it talks about not allowing third party parking firms to make money purely from penalties, etc. He/she will not know about the NHS Car Parking Principles (but they SHOULD DO) so tell him/her all about them, read the wording and use it at them.

At the end, be more robust:

Should I not receive satisfaction on this matter then I [STRIKE]may need to[/STRIKE] will involve my local MP to act on my behalf, and will require the contact details of the landowner to raise the complaint with them. The landowner and the Health Centre are complicit with the parking operator, in allowing a regime to exist in an NHS car park that contravenes the Government Policy that has applied since 2013. This is set out in a Health Memorandum and is something which I would expect the Health Centre to have raised in discussions when objecting to this harassing and not-fit-for-purpose 'enforcement' before it was introduced.

Clearly, ill people - some who are disabled, and some who are just passengers who do not even drive - cannot be expected to bear the onerous burden of (effectively): 'get your VRN right/remember to input it even though we don't bother to remind you, or be fined £100' when attending for an appointment.

The entire regime is unacceptable and outwith the clear will of the Department for Health, and this will be reported to my MP in the strongest terms. How dare the surgery act as apologists for the rotten 'parking industry', when all it takes is an email to cancel a PCN for a genuine patient. If you have not set up a cancellation procedure to protect patients, then that is another failure. You are acting against the interests of your poor patients.

3xcookedchips

I have a response,



Dear Mr <Irate Patient>


I am really sorry for the issue of a ticket by the landlord!!!8217;s contractor.

It may help you to understand that a surgery is not contracted or responsible for providing parking to patients or visitors, we are responsible for providing health care. Surgeries are self employed businesses who NHSE contract to deliver Primary Care. NHSE are not our employer. The link you have provided relates to trusts and organisations owned by the NHS.

As I advised in my earlier email we are only tenants in the building, which we share with many other organisations and the car park is owned and monitored by the landlord.

The local MP should already be aware of the parking regulations at <The Surgery> as conditions were applied by <The Council> when planning permission was granted for the build in 2013. For environmental reasons, the build was only permitted if there were parking restrictions put in place by the landlord.

As previously advised in my earlier response the Practice cannot get involved in parking appeals, however with your permission I will pass your email on to the Appeals Manager at Euro Car Parks.

Kind regards
<Practice Manager>


Is it wise at this stage to pass on my email to Euro Parks, or just follow the appeals procedure?

Quentin

Follow the appeal process