A disabled man from Jarrow has hit out at parking firm ParkingEye after he was slapped with a £70 fine while visiting his cancer-stricken mother-in-law at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead.
Bryan Grieve, 48, is a blue badge holder and suffers from severe arthritis in his knees, along with issues with the cartilage in the joints. In late June, with his mother-in-law in hospital, he and his wife were frequent visitors. On June 30, he visited and parked in a disabled bay near the hospital entrance. However, the blue badge registration machine in reception was not working. ParkingEye run the hospital's car parks.
He displayed his badge - and even paid for a ticket at a machine to ensure he was covered. But this didn't stop him receiving a fine weeks later. And his appeal against the fine was rejected too. It was only after he raised the issue with the hospital trust's team and with ChronicleLive that his fine was quashed.
ParkingEye had previously rejected Bryan's appeal saying that he had not made an attempt to enter his registration in the machine required to validate blue badge parking. This machine was broken at the time.
As Bryan was not told that this was the reason for the fine before appealing, and because he thought it was simply that ParkingEye thought he had not paid to park, he did not send the evidence of the broken machine with his initial appeal. He said he found the process and the lack of clarity deeply frustrating. Fortunately, his mother-in-law's condition has improved and she has left hospital.
He told ChronicleLive: "I'm pleased it's over, especially with all the time and stress it has taken. We never told my mother-in-law, didn't want to give her that stress. £70 is quite a lot of money. We didn't realise that [the machine] was the issue, it wasn't clear from the notice. They just said we hadn't paid so we produce the ticket."
He said he felt it was important to highlight his impression that the system is stacked against someone who may not know what is necessary to appeal a parking fine - especially given the time-consuming nature of doing so. He added that, in a hospital setting, this became doubly unpleasant.
"If you are in hospital you are under extreme stress," he said. "You are only there for one reason - because you or a family member are ill - and having this added to the stress of someone being ill is not on. It's very unfair to add this. It's bad enough in normal car parks but when it's a hospital it's worse. I wanted to shout at someone at ParkingEye but there's no-one to shout at."
The Gateshead Healthcare NHS Trust which runs the hospital has apologised to Bryan for the situation. Anthony Robson, managing director of QE Facilities, said: "We apologise for any confusion or distress caused to Mr Grieve. We’re committed to always providing an excellent experience for all of our patients and visitors.
"Now that we have the full details of the mitigating circumstances in this particular case, we will, of course, waive the penalty notice through our parking management company ParkingEye. If Mr Grieve, or indeed any of our patients or visitors need assistance with parking in the future, I would urge them to speak to a member of staff or contact us."
ParkingEye has been approached for comment.
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