NHS Hospital Parking

[Rob S]

My mum is in hospital so I popped in to see her yesterday. I noticed all the car parks were pay and display (even on a Sunday) and I noticed the signs mentioned that failing to comply with the regs would result in a penalty notice of £60 being issued.

 

Would I be right in thinking that NHS car parks are effectively private car parks so that the usual rules apply with regards to the issue of penalties?

[borisbeaver]

AFAIK yes.

 

Most Hospital trusts sub-contract their parking management.

[Guest xipetotec46]

Yes my local hospital is a private company I have never yet paid and never yet had a ticket to test them out, and before anyone says I am doing the hospitals out of much needed cash... No!!! I am doing a private company out of any cash because little of it goes into the hospital coffers.

[Rob S]

I figured that might be the case. The whole principle of having to pay to park when going to hospital (either as a patient or visitor) is appalling. Ipswich Hospital charge a minimum of £2.50 for 2 hours, rising up to £12 for 6 hours or more. Their "penalty" charge is £60 if you don't display a ticket, park in a disabled bay or have an expired ticket. Fortunately there are no signs warning of clamping (though my brother in law seems to think they clamp there), but no doubt some NHS trusts use this method to extract more cash out of people.

[MALCNESS]

My wife works as an ambulance driver and she got a parking ticket for parking where the attendant said it was okay to park..........DUH!!!

I find it hard to believe that even the staff have to pay to park to get to work.

Needless to say they can stick it, she is going to tell them that its not enforcable and see what happens.

[veilside01702]

just a quick question to those who know.....

How does a private company get your details from the Registration number if the DVLA are covered by the Data protection act??

So how can they issue a penalty notice??

Just curious....

cheers.....

russ

[Rob S]

They write to DVLA and ask for it. Anyone can write to DVLA to obtain registered keeper details, as long as they can show reasonable cause for needing the information. DVLA seem to have an interesting intepretation of the DPA:rolleyes:

[Tau]

My wife is a nurse here in Chelmsford. She has to pay for her parking and she works nights.

If she gets a ticket, it is taken out of her salary if she refuses to pay it. Taken out by the NHS not the parking company. She has been asked to agree to this on the new parking contract she needs to sign before she gets a permit.

 

Is this legal at all???

[Rob S]

So the NHS is acting as a DCA for the company that manages the car park? I would suggest she speaks to her union about this, as it doesn't seem fair to me to include it in her contract of employment. Any tickets should be a matter between the company that manages the car park and the driver who allegedly enters into a contract with them.

[Tau]

No, its not her contract of emplyment. They have to apply for a parking permit and it states it on this.

[Rob S]

Who issues the permits, is it the hospital or the parking management company?

[surprise]

I work in the NHS and the hospital have invested thousands in a barrier system for pay and display. They have a 20 minute drop off and pick up policy for patients attending for appointments, etc. Staff have to be permit holders, its all computerised.

[Infinity]

I currently have an issue with a parking enforcement company at my local NHS hospital. They ticketed me for parking on double yellow lines. I appealed against this as the double yellow lines were so faded, non continuous/ broken that I could not see how they could be enforced. I have just had my appeal rejected but am not going to let this drop. Does anyone know where I can find the legislation relating to double yelow lines and whether they comply or not? The amount of money charged for parking should be used to at least maintain/repaint these lines.

[Tau]

Who issues the permits, is it the hospital or the parking management company?

 

 

I'll have a look shortly Rob

[dw190]

I currently have an issue with a parking enforcement company at my local NHS hospital. They ticketed me for parking on double yellow lines. I appealed against this as the double yellow lines were so faded, non continuous/ broken that I could not see how they could be enforced. I have just had my appeal rejected but am not going to let this drop. Does anyone know where I can find the legislation relating to double yelow lines and whether they comply or not? The amount of money charged for parking should be used to at least maintain/repaint these lines.

 

Double Yellows are enforced under the RTA 1991 by Local Councils or the Police.

 

Privately issued tickets are a whole different thing under contract law and are possibly unenforcable.

[Tau]

Who issues the permits, is it the hospital or the parking management company?

 

It looks like the hospital issue the permits, but a private company issues the "fines".

[surprise]

In the West Midlands I don't know any hospital where the staff are not permit holders and pay and display is not in operation. The Management issue the tickets and our own Security do the clamping. We did initially have Bripark doing all this but our hospital saw an opportunity as a money making business, must be 1/4 of million to install.

[Rob S]

It looks like the hospital issue the permits, but a private company issues the "fines".

 

Given the law on parking on private property, is it worthwhile for your wife to get legal advice from her union on whether it is lawful for her employer to deduct penalties directly from her pay to be paid to a private company?

[Guest xipetotec46]

Yes I agree the unions should become involved, it is a practice that should be stopped immediately, although you could pay the charge and claim it back through the courts, if enough of the staff did this perhaps they would change the system, ask your union rep to call a meeting to discuss the problem with other union members, there is strength in numbers.

[Tau]

Just a thought.

I might be talking out of my a$$ here, but wouldnt the hospital need to be registered as a DCA if they do this, as they are in effect collecting a debt for a third party.

As I said I might be talking a load of baloney here.

[patdavies]

I currently have an issue with a parking enforcement company at my local NHS hospital. They ticketed me for parking on double yellow lines. I appealed against this as the double yellow lines were so faded, non continuous/ broken that I could not see how they could be enforced. I have just had my appeal rejected but am not going to let this drop. Does anyone know where I can find the legislation relating to double yelow lines and whether they comply or not? The amount of money charged for parking should be used to at least maintain/repaint these lines.

Double Yellows are enforced under the RTA 1991 by Local Councils or the Police.

 

Privately issued tickets are a whole different thing under contract law and are possibly unenforcable.

 

Double yellows within the hospital grounds will be on private property and cannot be enforced under the RTA 1991. They are simply some paint spilled along the road and have no enforceable quality whatsoever

[Guest xipetotec46]

Different for the Royal Bolton Hospital, a road goes through the middle of the hospital grounds with D/Y all along both sides, I think it falls under the RTA 1991 although I have only seen PPC attendants issuing tickets, in civvy clothes, not yet seen any uniformed PA's as I suppose they would only need them to check on the one road, which nobody ever parks on anyway, not cost effective I don't think to have a PA for one road.

[ScarletPimpernel]

Peterborough's hospitals are patrolled by the local council's PAs, who issue standard PCNs. This was negotiated by the Trust as a way to control parking more effectively - the hospital nearest town was regularly used by shoppers and staff of various offices nearby.

 

It has its problems. A patient coming for a 0930 appointment may arrive at 0915 and pay for 2 hours parking, not be seen for 3 hours, and get a ticket which has then to be appealed to the Council. Hospital staff have to spend time writing letters confirming the facts, and it causes resentment all round. It seems that the NHS cannot understand that parking would be less of a problem if they addressed some fundamental issues of their own - get clinics running properly and to time, and you will have a) less parking congestion and b) happier patients.

 

The PAs have also ticketed various emergency vehicles; when I worked there I watched from my office as a PA stuck tickets on the windscreen of our duty vehicles, each of which were properly parked in reserved bays and with Trust parking permits and large 'Emergency on-call' signs on the dashboard. Apparently we hadn't paid for tickets.

 

Anyway, he seemed somewhat taken aback at the sight of several military personnel suddenly bearing down upon him - I can confirm that all those electronic devices they wear around their waists means that they can't run very fast at all...

[Rob S]

I am puzzled as to how council parking attendents can issue PCN's for alleged contraventions on private property!

[ScarletPimpernel]

I am puzzled as to how council parking attendents can issue PCN's for alleged contraventions on private property!

 

Well, they did it!

 

I left shortly after the scheme began, so it may have changed now, of course. The introduction of PAs followed the most ludicrous consultation exercise, in which the Trust sought the views of staff and patients, and then implemented the scheme that brought them revenue, cost staff and patients more and irritated everyone no end.

 

Interestingly, although the Trust said that the Council administer parking (all payment and appeals dealt with by them etc.), their website, at Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals - Parking do's and don'ts says that various naughty parking things will be 'considered by the Trust as illegal parking' which may result in 'a penalty charge notice of £60', which does seem odd.