Parking charge received at hospital as I didnt register my blue badge

Redx

Great stuff , pm coupon mad with the VRM of the vehicle involved , plus your name and the Parking Eye reference numbers for all 3 PCN,s !! You can trust her and hopefully Steve Clark will get it sorted out (it's still appalling to expect vulnerable disabled people to take a blue badge to reception in a worldwide Corona virus pandemic , is Anna at Lincoln hospital for real or what ?)

Umkomaas

Good stuff @Coupon-mad, you're getting some really helpful assistance from Steve Clark in recent days. Well done Mr Clark too. 👏

Coupon-mad

Umkomaas said:

@Coupon-mad, you're getting some really helpful assistance from Steve Clark in recent days. Well done Mr Clark too. 👏

I agree, the BPA has been proactive in some important cases and we have Steve Clark to thank for being approachable and stepping in.  

I am awaiting a pm from this OP to tell me the PCN numbers or to show me the 3 PCN front pages, if easier.

However, the very fact that ANPR systems fail disabled people is a major concern of mine that the BPA know, and so do ParkingEye.  This is unacceptable and I am fed up of PPCs using technology for their own ends and not ensuring that it mutually and fairly serves the public interest. 

ANPR systems are still set up for consumers to fail, receive a PCN and have to appeal (or be scared into paying) and that must stop.  Long term, PPCs must move away from income reliance on penalties.  It's a protection racket that should have been banned when clamping was made a criminal offence.

It clearly incentivises a working model that is based on: 'let's issue two million PCNs per year'. which I understand was P/Eye's proud 2019 figure for DVLA data harvesting - correct me if I am wrong, Parking Eye, or take a bow, for the dubious accolade of obtaining about a quarter of all registered keeper data that the DVLA hands out like sweeties. 

Just stop and take a long hard look at how you operate, particularly in Hospitals.  I am not necessarily convinced that all parking in hospitals should be free of tariff but I am convinced that ANPR shouldn't even be a system that the NHS contemplate using.  The NHS have no clue and were even talked into spouting that ANPR systems 'help people to find a space'. 

For Christ's sake, stop listening to the parking firms/APAs and swallowing all the sweet talk about the benefits of 'rich data about footfall' and open your eyes to what you are damn well doing to vulnerable people, NHS.

Coupon-mad

The BPA has stepped in and spoken to ParkingEye and got them all cancelled for you (all three).  They say this:

''Some good news for the motorist - I have heard back from Parking Eye who have said;

We will arrange for all PCN’s to be cancelled and any paid to be refunded (due to Covid-19 this may take up to 5 weeks for the cheque to be processed).

The motorist hasn’t provided the new BB and as you know not all BB are reissued.  We will arrange for a further 3 years to be added to this permit.

I have also spoken to Parking Eye about the regime at this location and have been advised that recent changes requiring Trusts to provide free parking to BB holders necessitate that controls have to be in place so that motorists with a BB can actually find a suitable parking space, especially at locations where spaces are at a premium.  Each Trust does something different, some want BB permits to be permanent, some Trusts request the BB holder to register each visit and some like this location, provide a permit until the expiry of the BB, which I believe is the most appropriate. The choice of which process to utilise lies with the individual Trust.

This is an emotive topic and I know you are very passionate about it - so am I albeit to a lesser extent. Parking Eye are not in breach of the Code in this instance and I won’t be taking further action.''

Mags235

Thank you so much for all your help 

Coupon-mad

No worries - this was all wrong and you never pay this sort of thing - but don't ignore them.  Tell family & friends to come here, if they get a private PCN.

 Each Trust does something different, some want BB permits to be permanent, some Trusts request the BB holder to register each visit and some like this location, provide a permit until the expiry of the BB, which I believe is the most appropriate. 

I say that what this Trust does is discriminatory and VERY likely to cause PCNs to be sent to known disabled people.

Everyone's BB will need to be renewed at some point but no-one is likely to remember ''oh, I must tell the Hospital''.   It's a renewal, for God's sake, why would anyone think they have to re-register for this continuous right just because the reference on the Badge is updated?!

 Out of the three approaches it is the most inappropriate and the NHS Parking Programme Board need to have a re-think and remember that the disability rights are connected to the person, not a number on a badge, registered to a car.

Lincoln Hospital's approach here, also means that their broken system assumes the car is a 'disabled car' and thus, any relative could use that car any time and park up & go shopping without paying any tariff, which negates the entire aim.

Redx

Imho trusts should not have that power , there should be national NHS guidelines , similar to the guidelines put in place several years ago , where it's decided at NHS England level of higher , the cascaded down to each and every trust , mandatory for all , clear , concise rules and guidelines drawn up in conjunction with various bodies , especially the ones involved with the disabled !!

They also need to assume that legitimate use is fair , flexible and generally speaking no action should be taken unless misuse is blatant and proven. This pandemic is extending topics like driving licences , not,s were also extended , no reason that blue badges could not be treated the same way and PALS should take a proactive stance on behalf of the consumer , as a people's champion , not quote the party line or doctrine)

I still believe that it's wrong to expect a vulnerable disabled person to park up , then take a blue badge (and possibly covid ) into a hospital to reception , to register it.  Registration could easily be moved online with an upload of a scan or picture where necessary, face to face contact us ridiculous for red tape issues

Covid won't be going away , so common sense should prevail , not jobsworth people quoting rules or hiding behind the rules ( like those 4 foolish Welsh assembly MP s drinking in their assembly building after all pubs were shutdown in Wales )

Umkomaas

We will arrange for all PCN’s to be cancelled and any paid to be refunded (due to Covid-19 this may take up to 5 weeks for the cheque to be processed).

However, despite COVID-19, PE NtKs will generally be issued within 5 days.  Strange that, innit?

Coupon-mad

ANPR firms are among the very worst IMHO because of their greed and aim to issue as many PCNs as possible for as cheap an outlay as possible but meanwhile, giving the appearance of playing nicely by (very often) cancelling PCNs and sweeping complaints under the carpet.    With the numbers involved they can afford to cancel lots of PCNs, when criticised/scrutinised.

ANPR systems are not beneficial for drivers in any way whatsoever, yet large operators convince NHS Trusts and retailers that it's fantastic:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1026337/4299989-picture-this-keeping-an-eye-on-anpr-cameras

That's fully available to view because the BPA publish these Podcasts openly, BTW.

There is a constant drum-beating spiel from these firms about 'rich data benefits' (which retailers lap up) and stats are supplied to the ONS - oh yes, and the odd image or two is provided to the Police - and that allows ANPR camera PPCs to make it appear that they are providing a service for Society.

Off the back of all that, major lobbying has taken place in the Autumn to try to convince the DFT and MHCLG that Local Authorities should be allowed to 'embrace' this anti-consumer, flawed and intrusive technology, despite the concerns of the Information Commissioner. 

Never mind the fact it's not fit for purpose or properly checked, nor synchronised with other systems and they often put the cameras three approach roads away, so that the secret and unknown to the driver 'total stay' clock starts a good ten minutes or more before the person even parks.  And that's when it's not busy. Can be half an hour sometimes before people actually pay and display, with no idea that the expiry time on their ticket is a lie.

And of course that's why it ''works'' so well for the likes of ParkingEye, who harvested over TWO MILLION DVLA data releases in the year up until late 2019.   THAT'S CLOSE TO A QUARTER OF ALL DVLA DATA RELEASED TO THESE FIRMS.

Couple that with the ability to convince stupid retailers to reduce their customers' free parking time if the larger ANPR firms aren't making enough money from a site (but PPCs don't express the 'recommended change' that way to the retailers of course...) and it's a licence to print money.   

The very fact that the likes of the NHS think this is a suitable and fair system to inflict on vulnerable patients and busy staff, is wholly unacceptable. 

Then you have Motorway Services using ANPR too and inflicting misery on tired drivers who stop to rest at sites with unlit signs and they only find out about the charges weeks later.  Even though the DFT in 2013, in their report in readiness for the MSA policy, clearly recommended that people should not be penalised and should be allowed to pay the forgotten tariff as the first offer, retrospectively. 

Nice work, BPA, for seeing off that recommendation from the DFT's own officers.  Really clever.  Whoever achieved that must be so proud.  And now Group Nexus have jumped on the ''let's sue the pants off people and add a false £70 on top'' bandwagon by using CP Plus' back catalogue of keeper data, obtained outside of the POFA but never mind, no-one will notice that there's no keeper liability, they'll pay anyway to avoid court.

Le_Kirk

Redx said:

I still believe that it's wrong to expect a vulnerable disabled person to park up , then take a blue badge (and possibly covid ) into a hospital to reception , to register it.  Registration could easily be moved online with an upload of a scan or picture where necessary, face to face contact us ridiculous for red tape issues

Absolutely right and especially as they will be leaving the vehicle without a BB on display.  I mentioned in another thread where the PPC suggested a BB holder should walk to another PDT because the one nearest the disable parking spaces wasn't working, that the point of a BB was because the holder (generally) had difficulty getting anywhere, never mind to another PDT some distance away.