A NEW car parking system at Bath’s Royal United Hospital has angered visitors from Melksham who say they have been sent £80 charges in the post despite paying for parking during their visit.
Local people have complained of being sent unfair penalty charges by ParkingEye, which manages the car parks.
Drivers have said they were sent demands for £80 even though they had paid the correct amount for parking during their visit.
Both the hospital and ParkingEye told Melksham News people should appeal the charge if they think it is wrong, but neither would reveal how many people have complained about the charges.
ParkingEye also refused to comment on a list of eight specific cases provided by Melksham News, despite asking for the details before responding to enquiries.
Melksham News received a letter and emails about the parking, and over 80 comments were left by Melksham and Westbury people on Facebook posts about the charges.
Complaints
Visitors have also complained about parking changes for people with blue badges. Badge users must now register their car with the hospital beforehand to be eligible for free parking, or face an £80 charge if they don’t pay to park.
One local woman, Barbara Cropp, paid to park for a 50-minute visit but has had to pay her charge because she hadn’t kept her ticket.
Despicable
“I think this is a despicable arrangement on behalf of the hospital when most of the people going to the RUH are not going because they want to be there,” Barbara said. “For elderly people and blue badge holders these new parking facilities are a nightmare. Previously you paid for your ticket, put it on the windscreen and that was that.
“If the machine is faulty, or you inadvertently put your registration number in incorrectly – which is easy to do if a queue is building up behind you, you are not a regular visitor and you are trying to read the ‘rules’ – there is nothing you can do but pay the fine, especially as they threaten to double it if you do not pay within 14 days.”
When contacted about the charges, ParkingEye said it would comment only if registration numbers of complainants were given.
When given eight registration numbers of people who have had problems, the company said there were too many to comment on and that it couldn’t explain the charges because of commercial confidentiality.
As well as supplying the registration numbers, a Melksham News reporter asked ParkingEye the following questions:
• Why are paying users being sent £80 charges?
• Is there a problem with the equipment or are the charges sent regardless of whether or not the person has paid?
• How many charge notices have been issued since the system came into use at the RUH? How many of those have been contested?
The company’s response was, “We encourage people who have received a parking charge to appeal if they think there are mitigating circumstances, and instructions about how to do this are detailed on all communications and on our website. If a driver disagrees with our decision, they have the option to appeal to the independent appeals service (POPLA).”
The RUH trust also refused to reveal how many people had complained.
Appeal
A hospital spokesperson said, “We opened the new 300-space public car park at the RUH in September 2016, managed by ParkingEye, which is a member of the British Parking Association. We advise anyone who wishes to challenge a parking charge notice to follow the process outlined in their letter and appeal to ParkingEye, which will investigate their circumstances.
“We continue to listen to visitors’ comments and have made improvements to payment signs and information. ParkingEye is also upgrading its payment machine software to improve the information displayed on the screens.
“Our Patient Advisory Liaison service has received and responded to a number of complaints. It has also assisted people who have contacted us with other parking-related enquiries.”
What do you think?
Email news@melkshamnews. co.uk or write to 31 Market Place, Melksham. SN12 6ES
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