1 week Ago By [email protected] (Fionn Burrows)
A 90-year-old blue badge holder is facing a large fine and possible court appearance following a lack of communication over a parking charge. On January 21, Robert Scott, of Hougham, was visiting his wife at Lincoln County Hospital and displayed his blue badge entitling him to free parking in the hospital car park. Following the visit, on January 27, he received a letter from Parkingeye — the company which monitors the car park — ordering him to pay a £70 fine within 28 days which would be discounted to £48 if paid within 14 days.
As a blue badge holder, on February 5, he made an appeal against the fine by post as this was the only way to do so, and included photo copies of his blue badge to prove that it was a valid request. Since then, Robert has not had a response about his appeal, but did receive a further letter asking him to pay the full £70 fine, which has subsequently been upgraded to £140 and handed to bailiffs for collection under threat of a court appearance. Robert’s son, Philip Scott, of Newark, said: “It’s quite confusing.
As far as we knew the appeal was still ongoing because we’d not heard anything. “But then I had a phone call from my dad about the new letter. He was distraught.
“He’s not a well man anyway, he’s had his own health problems and has been looking after my mum. “I think we might end up paying because I don’t want to put him through the process of going to court. But we don’t want to out of principle.
” He added: “There’s no sympathy. “It riles me up because how many more times is this going to happen to people? “It’s just frustrating as there is no phone number. If you wanted to, you cannot talk to anyone.
“We thought it would be a good idea to get him the badge, but in hindsight it has turned out to be one of the worst ideas.” At the time of receiving his blue badge, Robert had been told that the badge entitled him to park in hospital car parks for free all day and therefore assumed the same rule would apply across all of the United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s sites. This assumption was backed up after a similar penalty notice at Grantham Hospital — which is a part of the same hospital trust as Lincoln County — was cancelled.
The trust’s website also confirms that registered blue badge holders are eligible for free parking, and once they are registered at one site users do not need to re-register individually at each other site. The Scott family have also been told by the Citizens Advice Bureau that they should not be required to pay a full penalty fee while an appeal is still ongoing. Phillip added that they would have been happy to pay the fine if they had received a proper response to their appeal explaining why.
When contacted by The Advertiser for comment, a Parkingeye spokesperson, said: “Lincoln County Hospital has multiple car parks for patients and visitors featuring highly-visible signage providing information on how to use the car park responsibly. “This includes guidance that Blue Badge Holders must register their vehicle at the hospital reception in order to receive a free parking permit. “The motorist parked at the Lincoln County Hospital but unfortunately failed to register as a Blue Badge Holder at the reception, as a result of this, they received a parking charge.
“Parkingeye hasn't received any further communication or an appeal regarding this case from the motorist. “Parkingeye operates a BPA (British Parking Association) audited appeals process, which motorists can use to appeal their parking charge. If anyone has mitigating circumstances, we would encourage them to highlight this by appealing to Parkingeye.
All motorists are also entitled to a further appeal via POPLA, the independent body which reviews all cases.” United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust have also confirmed that they may be able to assist the family if required..
