General Chat

to stay on the theme of parking fines,i was speaking to a friend yesterday who while out shopping in her local town((CAERNARFON) WAS FINED £60 because she parked her car slightly over onto the next bay. :-(

There is no excude for that degree of heartlessness Suzanne.

Bailiffs often don't know the circumstances which have led to them being asked to recoup a debt. So that is down to a jobsworth, on commission? who deserves as much crap as can be thrown at him/her.

In that particular cas I would have contacted the media and at least names and shamed.

just to let everyone know,that we no longer have to pay to park at hospitals in gwynedd,but we still have to get a ticket which lasts for 4hrs,you then have to renew your ticket if your going to be at the hos for longer.

i do know of a family(NOT AT OUR HOS) who were hounded by bailiffs after getting countless tickets on their car while their son was seriously ill,the child died,the bailiffs carried on the hounding,the council refused to back down, how low can you get :-(

hi paul

thank you for your comments.

the car park at the hospital is run by Anglesey County council
son wrote to them twice and explained what had happened and he a;so spoke to someone in the council who told him to download some paperwork from the internet and fill it in,all the time the fine was going up.over £600 IN THE END.

Staff parking at UHW is £1.05 for 12 hours which although not free yet is not alot to pay. If you arrive as is possible in sufficient time before due to start working then you can usually find a space especially at night when not as many staff work as in the day. if you do receive a ticket the fine is £30 which if paid within 14 days is at least half the amount to pay. No doubt some NHS employees unlike myself who are on particularly good money will park anywhere and take a chance and if caught then unlucky but you won't get caught everytime as UHW is a very big site. If you believe that you have a genuine case for not being fined then write to the car parking authority on site and your fine is suspended from time of receipt of letter until a decision has been arrived at. Hope this info is of some help.

and if the fines or parking fees went to the actual hospital it wouldn't be so bad, but here in Cardiff the car park at UHW is private and they get all the money and there are huge car parks - one about five floors plus various other parking lots - this is all money going to the private sector

and as for you Roger, that little boy could have ended up disabled and required parking facilities had his Dad not done wht h did - the man was panic stricken - do you have children? if you do you should understand his predicament - car parking was the last thing on his mind

last year a woman parked in the disabled space at a Cardiff hospital ,displayed her disabled badge,,,,,she was kept in for an life saving emergency transplant,,,,,,,,

she faced 10,,yes 10!!!! parking fines stuck on her car window ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

another disabled man from Angelsey took his wife for her cancer treatment,,,,he too displayed his disable badge,,,,,the treatment took longer than usual........he too got a parking ticket,,,,,

its shocking and the hosptials need to get to grips with the company fools who monitor its parking lots and the local councils who endorse them.

Those that know of my membership of a disabled www site via FB will know I am one of the most vociferous regarding abuse of disabled parking bays.

However, in THIS case the fine was not appropriate and certainly does not break any laws as the offence was not on the public highway. Exactly the same rules apply to supermarkets, they may or may not apply a fine. It is at the discretion of the person/s on duty at the time.

They legally can apply a fine provided the notification of that penalty is correctly worded and sited.

Why on earth are you being so stubborn?

Its not a LAW Roger -------Its a RULE made by the people who run the parking system at hospitals.and employ jobsworths to carry out the work.....

Balliffs fees would have hiked the costs.......

Staff still have to pay for a permit to park,,that includes all staff apart from the high status ones.......shocking,,,,,

he did pay up Roger
he or we paid up OVER £600 enough of a fine dont you think,

and also not one of the 32 parking bays were being used when he got out at 8am.

my daughter could have a disabled parking badge,but we choose not to because she has her parents to drive her around, gwynedd cc only issue a small amount,our daughters badge could go to someone who really needs it,
breaking the law was a first commited by a father who was out of his mind with worry,children die from asthma attacks you know..

Well I am one also and is sick of not been able to park where I want to though people not abiding with the rules.

And this includes the disabled who abuse the system, by only using one part of the badge.

So please do not lecture me.

As I have said before he should have paid the fine and then appealed.
But I still say he Broke the LAW and should have paid up.

Roger,

I am one of those who campaign to keep able bodied OUT of disabled parking bays.

However, at 3 a.m. with so many empty spaces and allowing for the father's panic over his child's condition and the obvious need to get an update in the emergency room I can understand why he parked there. He was silly for not moving it as soon as he could but I have no idea what state of mind he was in and can't explain why that wasn't done.

Although it is an offence and a fine is applicable if he had paid then appealed the outcome may well have been positive.

Sue

Suzanne wrote:
the disabled parking pay had 32 empty spaces and he parked in one at 3AM

I say so what Disabled parking bays are for the disabled Blue Badge people ONLY.

So evebn if it was 3 a.m. and all were empty your Son BROKE the law and deserved his ticket.

couldn't agree more Tecwyn - parking restrictions would be the last thing on your mind if you were rushing anyone to hospital, lt alone small child - you'd leave your car in the middle of the road if it meant getting help quicker - I don't like people abusing disabled parking spaces but FGS, this was totally different - find me a disabled person who would disagree

thank you TEC

grandson has been admitted 7 times since that night with asthma attacks,and like most small children he becomes ill very quickly.
the hos is 21 miles away from where we live on Anglesey,and by the time my son had drove there behind the ambulance,he was in a right state.
hes seeing a solicitor soon and im thinking of writing to the local paper ( The Cronicle and the Holyhead and Anglesey mail)
:-(

I am normally against any able bodied blocking disabled parking bays for obvious reasons, but given the time of night, the spaces available, what panic stricken father would not have done the same?. Perfectly understandable.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and in hindsight it would have been better if he had nipped out at some time during the five hours to park the car legally.

From the initial £60 fine, to where it ended up, is nothing short of extortion, and should be shown up as such. To send in the bailiffs is a serious reflection on Betsi Cadwalader HA, and Gwynedd CC.

Suzanne - A letter to the Cambrian News warning those of us who use Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor would be helpful.
In view of your position it might be better if your son wrote the letter.

I hope your little Grandson is much better now, and no more attacks.

Tec.

that's a good idea - getting the hospital to give you a covering letter for mitigating circumstances - cos let's face it, you couldn't have better mitigating circumstances

when I worked at our local psychiatric hospital I very often wrote letters to get staff off parking fines - usually they had been transporting a difficult patient to court or somewhere and had little option but to park where they could as close to the venue - the letters never failed to work

at our main hospital last year, University Hospital of Wales, and guy drove himslf to outpatients and ended up being admitted immediately for something like a transplant - his car was in the car park for weeks and ended up completely covered in parking stickers - local paper got hold of the story and all parking fins were written off

thank you all for your comments,but could i make some things clear.

my son does not go around breaking the law and this was done in complete panic.

the disabled parking pay had 32 empty spaces and he parked in one at 3AM

my grandson was seriously ill and the last thing on my sons mind was the car.

he appealed twice,was rejected,and the bill went up over £500 .

I also would never park in a disabled bay and nor would my son in normal circumstances ,but it was 3 am in the morning.
:-(

GeordieinNorfolk, My local hospital operates one where you take a ticket on entering, then pay at a machine before returning to your car, But the main hospital operates the pay and display system.

Roy

I think the way hospital parking is operated is disgusting, and very unfair. Why can't they operate a system like many town centre car parks: you take a ticket on entering, then pay at a machine before returning to your car, thus only paying for the time used.
At Kings Lynn hospital, the vultures (sorry, car parking attendants!) circle continuously in the hope of catching out the sick and their famillies. Makes my blood boil!