Parking PCN Coventry Hospital

[Anonymous Claret]

A few weeks ago a disabled friend and I took another friend of ours to see his dying brother in the main Coventry hospital.

My disabled friend had a blue badge that we registered along with my car reg by phone. We arrived at approximately 12.30pm and had 3 hours free parking. My disabled friend and I waited around the hospital for a couple of hours whilst my other friend went to see his dying brother.

We met back up at 2.30pm. My friend whose brother was dying said that he was going to say his goodbyes to his brother and meet us about 3.15pm so we could leave before 3.30pm. We met back up about 3.15pm when my friend told us that his brother had just died in his arms. He was upset and confused. We forgot about the parking as we were trying to support our friend. He needed to goto the ward to see the doctor etc and his daughter who lived nearby to the hospital said that she would come to see him.

We ended up overstaying our allocated time by 7 minutes and I received a PCN a week or 2 ago.

I lodged an appeal immediately but I still haven't heard anything.

I am not paying a penny on a matter of principle. I am just wondering if I have made a mistake by acknowledging the PCN and should I have just ignored it?

[SammyBoy]

Ignore everything bar a court summons. If that happens go to court and appeal to the judge, worst that can happen is you have to pay the fine and a small admin fee. I’ve still got debt collection letters turning up every now and again from a ticket in Feb 23, but they can’t do anything til they take you to court, which they probably won’t.

[ClaretDiver]

The law has changed recently I believe. Ignoring these PNC’s can end up with you receiving a CCJ. A number of hospitals I visit for work are issuing them and I was chatting to a member of staff who told me they are beginning to actively enforce them. Up to you but I personally would not risk it.

[Anonymous Claret]

Thanks both.

It looks like I may be going to court then as these are exceptional circumstances and I shall leave it upto the judge if I am issued with a CCJ.

[RicardoMontalban]

Thanks both.

It looks like I may be going to court then as these are exceptional circumstances and I shall leave it upto the judge if I am issued with a CCJ.

I would add be persistent in chasing up the appeal. It does sound like you have some exceptional circumstances which should be taken into consideration, and should be easy to corroborate. But if the enforcement is done by a third party (which I’m guessing is likely) they almost operate on an unspoken principle of path of least resistance. If you don’t push, they’ll just let the process run its course. If it does go to court, your proactive attempts at resolving the matter will be in your favour. But why take the risk?

[Anonymous Claret]

I have just sent another email as they have failed to acknowledge my initial appeal. It has now passed the 14 days since the PCN was issued so the charge goes up. I know lots of people who just ignore PCNs but I have always been told never to ignore a PCN from a local authority. Even though this appears to be a private company issuing the PCN as Claret Diver has stated he believes that hospitals are now issuing CCJs to people who fail to pay.

They obviously have the time we arrived and left etc but it should also be very easy to find out the time my brother's friend actually died in the hospital.

I suppose I am taking a stand because I don't like the way these companies operate and how they make it impossible to actually speak to someone. I also believe due to the exceptional circumstances I should not pay this unjust fine. I am very happy to have my day in court. If they do issue a CCJ I am sure that it will cost me far more in expenses than actually paying the fine but sometimes my principles and values are more important to me than the actual money.

Hopefully they will acknowledge my follow up email and waive the charge but if they don't I will just ignore future letters until I receive a CCJ if they decide to send one.

[Roosterbooster]

I agree that as a point of principle you should not pay

There are lots of forums on private car parks and PCNs, and it's worth looking through them. Some have standard letters you can use. It's also worth checking the BPA and IPC rules. Some car parks don't have to follow these until 2026, but it allows a 10 minute grace, amongst other things
A quick Google search and you will also find info from citizens advice and gov.uk website

The car parking companies are horrible, and aim to target innocent and vulnerable people through pressure, harassment, and threats

[Roosterbooster]

Your situation certainly falls into this. Any normal person would cancel the fine immediately. But normal people don't seem to work for these companies. Unfortunately the hospital is unlikely to be able to help either. Occasionally I have been given hospital parking tickets when on call, and the hospitals have sorted those out, but patients don't seem to get anywhere. Still worth enquiring though

I wish you all the best with this, and I'm really sorry to hear that such a tough time has been made worse

[Granny WeatherWax]

I have just sent another email as they have failed to acknowledge my initial appeal. It has now passed the 14 days since the PCN was issued so the charge goes up. I know lots of people who just ignore PCNs but I have always been told never to ignore a PCN from a local authority. Even though this appears to be a private company issuing the PCN as Claret Diver has stated he believes that hospitals are now issuing CCJs to people who fail to pay.

They obviously have the time we arrived and left etc but it should also be very easy to find out the time my brother's friend actually died in the hospital.

I suppose I am taking a stand because I don't like the way these companies operate and how they make it impossible to actually speak to someone. I also believe due to the exceptional circumstances I should not pay this unjust fine. I am very happy to have my day in court. If they do issue a CCJ I am sure that it will cost me far more in expenses than actually paying the fine but sometimes my principles and values are more important to me than the actual money.

Hopefully they will acknowledge my follow up email and waive the charge but if they don't I will just ignore future letters until I receive a CCJ if they decide to send one.

The hospital will have outsourced / sold the management of their car parks to a private company. They will be running as 2 separate organisations and neither will have access to each others information, and it any case the parking company should never be able to find out anything about your brothers friend’s death without explicit permission from the next of kin.

It will be being viewed as black and white, you outstayed parking they fine you, if it goes to the parking appeal body, another independent organisation, they will view it as black at white too.

2 options, pay or like you have mentioned go to court. I know what I’d be doing.

[Roosterbooster]

I disagree GWW

There are grey areas, hence why the BPA and IPC brought in guidelines such as a 10 minute grace allowance. Also, in extenuating circumstances, rules are inadvertently broken. I believe a judge will likely accept this, and would query why the parking company did not

The reason they don't is that most of the time the threatening letters force people into paying before it even reaches a judge

[dushanbe]

If you go to court and hope to rely on the moral compass of the judge you will lose. They will only judge the matter on the points of fact, whether the signs are correctly displayed and whether the terms and conditions of entry and procedures have been complied with on both sides. Turning up with extenuating circumstances won’t get you anywhere as sad as it is.

There’s plenty of help online, one in particular on Facebook is very helpful (private parking tickets help and advice) but there are certain rules surrounding correspondence with the issuer that you may already have fallen foul of.

[Corway]

Let’s hope your appeal is accepted

Advice From Gov website

Challenging a ticket from a private company

Check the ticket to find out who the issuer is. Contact them to find out how to challenge the private parking ticket.

If your challenge is rejected, you can appeal to an independent appeals service. Find out if the ticket operator is a member of an accredited trade association by looking at the ticket or their website.

Appeal to:

POPLA (Parking on Private Land Appeals), if the operator is a member of the British Parking Association (BPA)
IAS (Independent Appeals Service), if the operator is a member of the International Parking Community (IPC)

[SammyBoy]

A CCJ happens when you owe someone money and fail to repay it as agreed.

You can ignore these tickets until you get summoned to court, if you go to court and the court decides you do indeed owe the money then you have to repay or you get a CCJ.

However, being taken to court is rare, and you might win in court. As I mentioned in my earlier reply, I got a PCN in Feb 2023 and despite many "scary" letters, they still haven't taken me to court.

Try not to think of it as a fine, it's effectively an invoice from someone saying you owe them money.

Also, as an aside, there's no point appealing. The authorities you're appealing to are in bed with the parking companies, it's basically a kangaroo court.

[Corway]

If rejected i would try explaining your situation to the hospital as they will get car park income and ask for them to intervene.
You could contact their complaints department on the basis you have been treated unfairly by their car parking company.

[dushanbe]

One other thing, as it’s been issued at the hospital, try and speak to the PALS who are there to assist patients and families. They can often go into bat for you with a fair success rate

[SammyBoy]

Thanks both.

It looks like I may be going to court then as these are exceptional circumstances and I shall leave it upto the judge if I am issued with a CCJ.

If it makes you feel better there's probably only a 5% chance you'll get summoned to court, and even then when it looks like you're not going to bottle it they'll likely drop the whole thing just before the court date. Ultimately, taking people to court isn't profitable for the parking companies.

Every now and again they'll take the odd unlucky person the whole way to try and demonstrate that they're not completely toothless but they make plenty with the thousands of people that simply pay up when the tickets issued.

[Foshiznik]

I’ve had similar that I took to POPLA following an unsuccessful appeal and won. I’d suggest you will too.

[Cardclaret]

Also hospital's will be vicariously liable for the actions of companies they are contracting out to, so they have skin in the game. So contacting PALS is a good idea.

[Anonymous Claret]

I would just like to say a very big thank you to everyone who replied by sharing their experience and advice.

I received an email this afternoon saying that the fine has been cancelled.

[wilks_bfc]

I would just like to say a very big thank you to everyone who replied by sharing their experience and advice.

I received an email this afternoon saying that the fine has been cancelled.

That’s great to hear AC.

Some common sense and compassion shown for once from them

[RickyBobby]

Go to a newspaper. Seriously sell your story to the sun or the mail. The bad publicity for the NHS trust will cause them to intervene and cancel it.
The media have a lot of power and not all publicity is good publicity.

[Inchy]

Find out who is head of finance for the trust. Easy enough to find online

Email them the situation. If ignored, denied, threaten with going to the local press.

I had parking fines at the hospital I worked at and the company increased the fine, even though their contract stated they were not allowed to do that. The finance officers for the trust will have weight to tell the PCN to pi55 off. It’s what happened in my case.

I would completely ignore the PCN and try to deal
with the hospital directly

[Corway]

I would just like to say a very big thank you to everyone who replied by sharing their experience and advice.

I received an email this afternoon saying that the fine has been cancelled.

So pleased for you and your friend who must have been stressed by this too at a time his head must have been spinning

[Commy]

I have to go to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton and it is free to disabled. They have a car park for disabled but if it is full you park on the multi storey and take your badge to the office for a free ticket to get out. Doesn't matter how long you are there.