NHS WORKER! HELP/ADVICE

maxbcfc123

Good Afternoon thank you for reading this...

Last year I took a job at a hospital, when I took the job I asked if there was parking on site as I take children to school so needed parking (it was one of the reasons I took the job else I would of been 20 mins late per day) once I started I applied for a parking pass, in the meantime I was given a 24 hour pass by my management which was used every day and displayed until I got my pass. A week or so later they declined my application for a parking pass and said that because I didn’t work for the Hospital (I was seconded from another hospital) that I was not eligible for pass. My management team told me they would speak to a few people to appeal/escalate the rejection and see what they can do as I said I may have to quit my job.

in the meantime I got around 5 parking tickets... they flatly refused my application and then started immediately ticketing me, I asked them to stop whilst I was appealing but they still did. One week later they agreed their policy wasn’t the best (as lots of people a subcontracted/seconded to other hospitals) and it was agreed I could get a pass for £40 a month (even though everyone else was paying £20) this was agreed and I paid every month but still had the outstanding tickets against me.

I refused to pay the charges as I believe it didn’t make sense as they ended up giving me a pass so surely I thought common sense would prevail and I thought they would cancel it... they never. The fines then doubled and I started getting debt collection letters. I escalated this to the parking representative who said they would accept payment for the original charges and it would all go away.

Again I refused to pay, why should I pay if their policy was updated and they ended up giving me a pass?
Why should I pay parking fines when all I was trying to do is go to work for the NHS?

This has now been passed onto dcblegal to "take further action on their behalf"
looking for advice, should I just pay the now £800 or let them take me to court?

Not really the letters you want to read during a stressful pandemic!

Thank you,

Redx

Name the trust and complain to the HR department , citing the NHS guidelines , don't be fobbed off !!

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

Which trust or hospital ??

Email your local MP and complain to try and get the trust to get them cancelled , don't be fobbed off

Get your Union involved too

Which parking company issued these charges ? How many in total ? At what charge on each PCN ? £100 per pcn ? 5 tickets is £500 , not £800 , they have added £60 times 5 as unlawful additions

Need more info to assist

maxbcfc123

Thanks for your advice.
I have complained to HR at that hospital and sent them that link.
It was Birmingham Children's Hospital
I am not in a union.
I believe the parking tickets were £30 each which went to £80 if not paid within x days and now the debt is sitting at £800.

"First Parking LLP have instructed DCBL not to proceed any further, however they have now instructed DCB Legal Limited to take further action on their behalf"

Thank you for your time.

Redx

Don't forget to complain to your MP

The PCN,s do not increase from £30 to £80 , but they may have been £80 reduced to £30 for early payment !!

What I was trying to find out is the default figure due to non payment , mainly because you didn't pay them , so £80 times 5 is £400 , not £800 !!

I would suggest that you also fill in the 2 government surveys asap whilst you still can , the BSI survey and the Mhclg survey , because change won't happen until victims use their voice , you won't get a better opportunity to do the surveys and complain in writing to your local MP

You will find the surveys advice in most of the recent posts by coupon mad

Coupon-mad

maxbcfc123 said:

Thanks for your advice.
I have complained to HR at that hospital and sent them that link.
It was Birmingham Children's Hospital
I am not in a union.
I believe the parking tickets were £30 each which went to £80 if not paid within x days and now the debt is sitting at £800.

"First Parking LLP have instructed DCBL not to proceed any further, however they have now instructed DCB Legal Limited to take further action on their behalf"

You won't be paying - you will win this in court.  You need to read the NEWBIES thread. 

AND DO THIS TOO, ONLY ABOUT A WEEK LEFT:

Comments are invited about the whole Code of Practice and most people feel that parking charges (double the amount of Council ones) are extortionate. Please now make a real difference because not enough people have yet, and time is running out. 

The Government is consulting for just a few more days, about a new statutory code of practice (CoP) and framework intended to rein in the rogue parking firms. 

Does it go far enough?  Read and comment on the draft CoP proposal and the enforcement framework consultation (two separate consultation documents).

HOW TO DO THE SUBMISSIONS:

BSI PAS 232 – COMMENTING ON THE CODE OF PRACTICE AS DRAFTED

1.    You will need to register then log in, to comment on the CoP and enter an occupation even if you are retired or a homemaker.  

 

2.    Register, log into the BSI page, and download & read the cover letter here:

https://standardsdevelopment.bsigroup.com/projects/2020-00193#/section

 

3.    Read the cover letter again and note the suggested extra questions... if you agree that, say, the 'loading/unloading and dropping off, asking for directions, and disabled people parking on double yellows as they can on street' activities listed should be exempt (not parking events, what do you think?) then please go to the Annexes at the end of the PAS Code and find the one about Exempt Vehicles and state what other activity you think should be added to the exempt list. 

 

4.    Download the PAS itself and start commenting on what you wish to say something about.  Quick links to each section appear on the left of your page. 

 

You don’t have to comment on everything, e.g. you might want to skip the definitions and focus on later sections, and certainly look at the Annex tables at the end that show things like consideration & grace periods and exemptions.

 

5.    Submit comments when you are happy with them. Don’t just ‘SAVE’ and forget!

 

THAT IS HALF THE JOB DONE!

THE MHCLG CONSULTATION IS EASIER AS IT IS JUST A LIST OF QUESTIONS. 

 

6.    You can do it first if preferred or pushed for time:

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=EGg0v32c3kOociSi7zmVqAVPfAOtwRxLhHRwQ610oElUMzhQSVo0WUQ4SERVSEZaUU9DTUhFQ1VMUy4u

If your answers exceed 4000 characters (approx. 500 words to a single question or 16000 words (approx. 2500 words) for all the questions below, you can email your answers to parking@communities.gov.uk as long as you state who you are.

THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS YOU WILL SEE, FOR RESPONSES TO THE FRAMEWORK:

Q1 Do you agree or disagree that members of APAs should be required to use a single appeals service appointed by the Secretary of State?

Strongly agree/Somewhat agree/Neither agree nor disagree/Somewhat disagree/Strongly disagree

 

Q1.1 Please explain your answer

(free text)

 

 

Q2 Please provide any other feedback on the determination of appeals, including the funding model and features that an appeal service should offer e.g. telephone or in-person hearings, the ability to submit evidence online

(free text)

 

Q3 Please provide any comments you have on the proposal to enforce the Code by combining the ATA’s existing audit procedures with additional safeguards.

(free text)

 

Q4 Please outline any alternative means by which the Code could be monitored and enforced. You may wish to cite evidence from other regulatory frameworks which are relevant.

(free text)

 

Q5 Please provide any feedback you have on the proposed governance arrangements for monitoring the new Code of Practice

(free text)

 

Q6 Which parking charge system is most appropriate for private parking?

 a) the Three-tiered system

 b) Mirroring the Local Authority system

(free text)

 

 Q6.1 Please explain your answer. You may, for example, wish to make reference to other deterrent frameworks (for example, for railway tickets or traffic violations)

(free text)

 

 

Q7 What level of discount is appropriate:

40% as is currently offered in private parking and suggested in the three-tiered system, or

50% as is offered in Local Authority parking?

a) 40%

b) 50%

 

Q7.1 Please explain your answer, including whether the discount should be set at a different level

(free text)

 

 

 Q8 How should the level of parking charges be set and how should the levels be revised in future?

(free text)

 

 

Q9 Do you agree or disagree in principle with the idea of the Appeals Charter?

Agree/Disagree

 

Q9.1 Please explain your answer

(free text)

 

 

Q10 Do you agree or not that the examples given in the Appeals Charter are fair and appropriate? Agree/Disagree

 

Q10.1 Please explain your answer.

You may wish, for example, to suggest additional cases to be covered in an Appeals Charter or query existing examples.

(free text)

 

Q11 Do you agree or disagree that the parking industry should contribute towards the cost of the regulation?

Agree/Disagree

 

Q11.1 Please explain your answer.

(free text)

 

YOU CAN INSTEAD GIVE MORE CONCISE ANSWERS ONLINE, USING THE MHCLG PAGE LINK.

Don’t forget that answering these questions is the easier bit…

Looking at the BSI PAS (the draft code of practice itself) involves logging in and submitting comments again, and again and again and takes more time!

There is a discussion about PAS submissions and what the pages look like, here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6195417/am-i-doing-something-wrong/p1