Parking fines at Cheshire hospitals 'should be repaid'

Halton and Warrington hospitals are being urged to refund parking fines

A hospital trust should repay 4,000 parking fines issued "unfairly", the Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB) has said.

The tickets were handed out to visitors and outpatients attending Halton and Warrington hospitals in Cheshire between March and May.

Halton Citizen's Advice Bureau said a lack of proper signs means fines worth hundreds of thousands of pounds may have to be reimbursed.

A spokesman for the hospital trust said it believes the signage is "compliant".

In the three months from March, private contractor Highview Parking issued 4,229 penalty notices at car parks used by the two hospitals, a Freedom of Information request revealed.

Although 1,000 of these notices were later refunded on appeal, it is estimated the parking fines could have totalled more than £300,000.

Halton CAB and Healthwatch Halton said the trust was not complying with the parking industry's own guidelines by failing to provide the correct signage in car parks.

'Fines rescinded'

The guidance states: "You must place signs containing the specific parking terms throughout the site, so that drivers are given the chance to read them at the time of parking or leaving their vehicle.

"Signs must be conspicuous and legible."

CAB chief executive Hitesh Patel said he did not believe there was a valid contract between the Trust and drivers.

"When you go to any NHS service you always hope they will be looking after your best interests and they will always treat you fairly.

"With car parking, the policies that are in place do not seem to be fair. It runs counter to what everyone would expect from the NHS."

He said if patients used the independent appeal process, "it is our belief that they should have their fine rescinded".

The CAB report said it has visited the entrances to the site and found no signage which complied with the British Parking Association's approved operator scheme code of practice.

A spokesman for Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: "We have looked at the points raised by the CAB and we believe the signage on our sites is fully compliant and has been authorised [to] British Parking Association standards.

"We are further strengthening this by bringing together all information on concessions and instructions together in one place by the machines.

"We have also worked with the parking company to ensure that basic errors, such as entering a single incorrect digit from a number plate, are automatically picked up and are not issued with a fine, or that these are picked up and dismissed on appeal.

The "vast majority" of 84,000 people who paid for parking during the three-month period used the system "without any problems", he added.