nhs staff parking - advice wanted

apexd123

My partner works across multiple NHS sites and holds a parking permit that allows her to park at multiple locations.

She recently arrived at one of the sites where the staff car park was full. She attempted to find an alternative solution but ultimately had to make a decision: either leave her vehicle in the adjacent car park, which is shared with patients and located on the same hospital grounds only a few metres from the staff car park, or risk being late for work.

Given the importance of her role within the hospital, she chose to park and attend work on time. Her qualifications mean that certain significant medications cannot be issued until she, or another appropriately qualified member of staff, has signed them off. At any given time, there are usually only one to three people on site with this qualification.

She has since been issued with a PCN by Parkfair on the basis that she did not have permission to park in that car park, despite displaying her permit, being a member of staff, and the designated staff car park being full.

The Estates and Facilities team have shown no interest in supporting her. She submitted an internal appeal to Parkfair, but this has been rejected with what appears to be a very generic response.

What would be the recommended next steps in this situation?

Car1980

I can't find any record of Parkfair ever making a court claim.

Personally I would just ignore them.

1505grandad

BPA AoS list under Sagoss Limited t/as ParkFair - one man band who seems to be even older than I am.

Coupon-mad

Please show us both sides of the PCN issued by Parkfair, with data & refs redacted.

apexd123

The original pcn ^^

apexd123

The appeal:

Subject: Formal Appeal Against Parking Charge Notice –

Dear Parkfair Appeals Team,

I write to formally appeal Parking Charge Notice XX issued on 22/04/2026 at Leicester General Hospital, relating to vehicle registration XX

I am a hospital pharmacist and work across multiple hospital sites within the Trust. On the date in question, I was attending a scheduled shift at the East Midlands Planned Care Centre at Leicester General Hospital.

I wish to respectfully request cancellation of this notice on the basis of the following grounds:

1. Frustration of Contract

I hold a valid staff parking permit which constitutes a pre-paid contractual agreement permitting me to park on hospital grounds managed by Parkfair.

On arrival for my shift, I made genuine and reasonable attempts to locate an available space within the designated staff parking area. However, due to insufficient staff parking capacity at the time, no spaces were available within the permit-valid zone.

As a result, the contractual purpose of the permit could not be fulfilled through no fault of my own. This created a situation of frustration of contract, whereby the parking arrangement I had paid for became temporarily impossible to perform because the operator failed to provide available parking within the authorised area.

In order to fulfil my employment obligations and avoid disruption to hospital operations, I was forced to park in the adjacent Parkfair-managed public parking section nearest to the building in which I was working. Importantly, the vehicle remained on the same hospital premises managed by the same parking operator.

2. No Commercial or Financial Loss

Parkfair suffered no commercial or financial loss whatsoever.

I hold a valid parking permit authorising me to park on hospital grounds, and this permit was clearly displayed within the vehicle. At no point was there any attempt to evade payment, avoid parking charges, or misuse parking facilities.

The vehicle remained parked on Parkfair-managed property throughout. The only issue appears to relate to the specific zone in which the vehicle was parked due to the unavailability of staff spaces.

Given that payment for parking privileges had already been made through the permit system, enforcement of an £80 charge in these circumstances appears disproportionate and punitive rather than compensatory.

3. Mitigating Circumstances and NHS Duty of Care

As an NHS healthcare professional attending a scheduled hospital shift, I am required to attend work punctually to support patient care and pharmacy operations.

Leaving the hospital grounds to search for off-site street parking would have risked lateness to my shift and disruption to essential healthcare services. This would not have been in the interests of patient care, hospital operations, or the wider NHS duty of care.

Additionally, during the course of the shift I had an extremely limited break period and was not reasonably able to leave clinical responsibilities to relocate the vehicle without impacting operational duties and patient service provision.

The circumstances arose solely from inadequate staff parking availability rather than deliberate non-compliance.

4. Good Faith Conduct

At all times, I acted reasonably, responsibly, and in good faith under difficult operational circumstances. I did not park irresponsibly, obstructively, or dishonestly. I simply utilised the nearest available Parkfair-managed parking area in order to carry out my duties as a hospital pharmacist.

I respectfully ask that fairness, proportionality, and discretion be applied in this matter, particularly given the ongoing operational pressures faced by NHS staff.

In light of the above circumstances, I kindly request that Parking Charge Notice XX be cancelled.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to your response.

Yours faithfully,

apexd123

the reply - rejected appeal (recieved 1st june via email)

James_Poisson

Well for a start I would report them to the BPA for misrepresentation of authority under the COP:

Coupon-mad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82044894#Comment_82044894

That'll probably frighten them off at POPLA.

I really wish the OP hadn't appealed before coming here! The 100% win 'No keeper liability' argument was binned the minute you said you parked.

apexd123

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82045113#Comment_82045113

Ty for the insight, will bear that in mind if encountering a similar situation in future. To be fair, ty for all the support on this entire forum, you have a wealth of invaluable knowledge/experience

My partner (whos occupation is health-care) didn't feel comfortable to ignor something like this. I think its fair to say anyone with a spec of common sense could see the bigger picture here:
staff car park full »» parking permit paid for »» human duty of care overrules parking beurocarcy (particularly in a hospital platform) »» parking was safe and non obstructive.

Its little reasons like this (and some larger issues too) that chip away everyday at good, high qualified Healthcare professionall performing a difficult benelovant job, who eventually leave the NHS and work in private platforms/internationally