Parking ticket while at hospital appointment

Just had to have a rant, went to see the consultant today re my ovarian removal as my bc was oestrogen receptive.

Arrived at the hospital in plenty of time and damn no car parking spaces, having only just had surgery last Thursday did not feel well enough to do the journey by bus it takes over an hour and did not want to use a taxi in case I was sick on the way there. After driving around the usual roads and council paid car parks all of which were full I ended up parking in a parking permit area for residents only, it was this or miss my appointment.

The consultant booked me in for the operation next Thursday so was then taken to pre op clinic which took some time. All in all I was at the hospital for 2 hrs, I arrived back to my car and there was a parking ticket on the window screen, now I know I should not have parked there but I had no choice and parking around the Sheffield hospitals is a nightmare.

Now do I just pay this parking ticket or do I appeal not to sure what to do as I am sure they will say that having 4 hospitals so close together is the reason they have the parking permits for residents but most of the houses are occupied by students as not many families live there now.

I have looked at applying for a blue badge but don’t think I would qualify, I am now wondering how I am going to mange when I have to attend every day for five weeks of radiotherapy.

Sorry for the rant but the last thing I need is a £30 parking ticket

Debra

Hi Debra

So sorry to hear about your parking ticket. I would suggest you appeal it as I did this once and I just explained the whole situtation. Appeal to their sympathetic side maybe explain the situtation. I said that I didn’t realise it was a permit holder area as it was at night time, the lighting was bad and I had been driving round for ages looking for a space plus I had a friend in the car who’d just had an operation and couldn’t walk far. You could say you’ve been ill, are having treatment, couldn’t find anywhere to park and would have missed your appointment. I also said things like I’m a very considerate driver, have never had any speeding tickets etc and could they please help me out on this occasion. I was just wondering if there are certain hours you can park in the restricted area? Then you could arrange the rads around that.

Wishing you the best of luck with this. Just thinking back to when this happened to me, I think I emailed my appeal to them.

Ruby x

I got a parking ticket a while ago, as I had to rush to the loo (as a result & side effect of chemo). I wrote an appeal, explaining the situation and they revoked the ticket so if I were you I would do the same. Lay it on nice and thick with a trowel…

Best of luck,

Jenny.

I had my rads done at the Western General in Edinburgh and they had a certain number of parking spaces marked out in red for people who were attending the cancer centre. You were given a card to put on the car windscreen and if you were very lucky you could manage to get a space along the front of the building where parking was free. When I was having chemo and Herceptin there we had to be at the hospital for long periods;my OH would take the car round the block at lunchtime and park again as this kept the cost down. We once had to park for a whole day and they had put up the cost without us knowing - it was about £9 so OH complained to the parking attendant. He said he thought it was appalling that people were being charged when they were going for cancer treatment and he let us out without paying.

I think it’s quite disgusting that people get charged for hospital parking at all, whether they be patients or staff.

Hi Debra,

Sorry to hear about your parking ticket - what a pain. I should try and appeal.
I had 5 weeks of rads last March / April at Weston Park Sheffield. I drove myself there every day, tried to get in the car park on day 1, couldn’t, so never tried again as there is always a big queue. I did think there would be people worse off than me who couldn’t walk far and needed the spaces more than me, so I used to park and walk and look at it as a bit of exercise. I used to park either in the little car park further up into Broomhill on the opposite side to the hospital (just below where the shops start) or in Broomhill itself there is a rooftop car park above the Somerfield supermarket and Boots etc. You should always get in there! It’s a bit of a trek but I did enjoy the walk and luckily the weather was mainly fine. The rads team there are fantastic.

Good luck with the op next Thursday.

Shorty xx

Hi Debra
What a pain in the *rs*! If you feel up to it, appeal as others have said.
At the City hospital in Nottingham anyone having an extended course of treatment or relatives/friends visiting a patient on a regular basis can get a reduction in their parking fees. I’m due to start rads and on the first day I have to buy a ticket for £5 then they give me a permit that lasts till my final session, no more payment. It isn’t widely publicised at the hospital, there are no notices up. Perhaps Sheffield do a similar thing? It doesn’t guarantee a parking space of course!!
Good luck with the appeal.
x

Hi Debra,

Definitely appeal. I drove to the hospital during radiotherapy because my lift let me down. I had no tax on the car(it was 3 weeks overdue) and I had no idea! Car on driveway, petrol in, whats the problem??? Got a ticket for driving with no tax. I contacted them and they wrote back expressing sumpathy for what I was going through and quashed the fine. They are human…

Good Luck!

It’s well worth asking them to reconsider in the circumstances. Hospital parking charges are outrageous - perhaps at my local hospital the idea is to prevent people using the parking spaces and walking or getting the bus into town, where it’s even worse. I paid £5 this week to park for 3 hours for pre-op appointment and dread the costs if I have to get there several times a week. Good luck and let us know how you get on!

Thanks for all your comments have just emailed my appeal so will let you know what the say, Shorty I usually do use the little car park that you mention but it was full and there were 2 cars waiting unusually as not many people know about this car park as its hidden away of the road, have to say I did not think of the Somerfield car park have never used it but have driven past many times, although yesterday I was to weak to walk that far, I have never used the car park at weston park as the queue is always very long and as you say should be for people who are very ill and cant walk up to now that has not been me I have always been well enough to walk and do enjoy a little walk but yesterday was a bad day, nice to know the rads team are fantastic at weston park.

Debra x

Hi Debra - I don’t know if this scheme operates from your hospital (I live in Cornwall), but thought I would mention my experience when having treatment.

My husband (who is disabled and can’t walk more than 30 yds) drove me to all my chemo treatments, but was unable to drive me every day for 5 and half weeks for radiotherapy. It is a one and a half hour journey each way, by car and ferry. There is no local transport as I live in a very isolated area. When one of the Oncology receptionists gave me my “timetable” for rads she asked if I would like to use their volunteer car service. I had no idea this was available, as there were no notices or leaflets in the Oncology Suite. I gladly accepted, as the only alternative was to use taxis, which is £30 each way. I had many different drivers, all male, many of whom had lost their wives to cancer. For some inexplicable reason (none of the drivers knew the answer) the service is free if you live in Cornwall, but if you live in Devon, where the hospital is, you have to pay £4.50 each way, which I believe is very unfair, especially to elderly people living on a small pension. Most drivers had a cancer charity box and I would always put some money in the boxes.They were always very courteous, some of them interesting.

The only disadvantage was that we had to pick up other people, and collect them after their treatment. The patients on dialysis were very sick, mostly holding a sick bowl on the journey home, and the drivers would ask if we could drop them off first. This meant an hour or more added to my return journey, so I just took a book and a cold drink and sat in the back of the car. I did however get to see some lovely places deeper in Cornwall.

You might ask your bc nurse, or the Oncology receptionists, if this service is available in the Sheffield area.

I hope you get your parking ticket quashed. Perhaps we need to get the Daily Mail (who love to get involved in injustices) to start a campaign for all hospital patients to get free car parking. It would be easy to administer - just show some kind of paperwork that proves you have an appointment or having treatment. A friend of mine in Tampa, Florida has stage IV lung cancer and is being treated at a specialist cancer hospital. When we drive up for his appointments or treatment, we arrive at the front entrance where volunteer valets take your keys and park your car, all free of charge. They even have wheelchairs at the entrance. We could learn a lot about community involvement from the Americans I think.

Take care,
Liz.

Hi

Well got a letter from them this morning saying that they have a back log of 8 weeks and that they will let me know when they have looked into my appeal, they clearly dont spend the money they get from parking tickets on office based staff, just those that issue them.

Will let you know when I have heard from them.

Debra xx

I was also treated at the Western General. The parking attendants were always very sympathetic. It was £1 for 4 hours but if you were a cancer patient and in the special area and ended up being over the limit they would turn a blind eye. I did recently get a ticket at the western, I was there for a scan and the car lost all power while in the Q for car park, so I free wheeled it 10 yards to avoid holding up the Q. Got a ticket from the Blue Meanies which was recinded as I called the RAC.During my chemo if I felt well enough I did bus it (Im a local lass) and that would free up spaces.
Cherub you could chance it and park in a weel known super market car park if really stuck (oops I never said that)

Hi All
I attend Derriford Hospital in Plymouth for cancer treatment and if you show the parking attendant your blue appointment card you can park all day for £1.20. This works fine for chemo every three weeks but when I start rads it is going to prove a bit expensive! Also there is a car park quite a distance away from the main entrance car parks, right down the back of the hospital close to the Oncology Department which has a sign designating it for Oncology. This usually, has spaces in it as most people don’t want to walk back up hill to the main entrance.

Nonny

Hi Nonny - how wonderful to hear from someone down in the far South West. I live in South East Cornwall, between Cremyll and Kingsand but have being going to Derriford since we repatriated here from Spain some 14 yrs ago - initially for Crohn’s, but last 5 yrs for bc. I have the wonderful Mr. Watkins as my bc surgeon who has always been so compassionate and is on the ball with many complications I have had with concurrent diseases. Did you know he raised some £250,000 in the local community for the Primrose Breast Care Centre at Derriford? He did my two surgeries, but had a small stroke 2 yrs ago and doesn’t do surgery any more, but still sees patients in clinic.

When I had finished chemo and was about to start rads, one of the elderly receptionists in the Oncology Suite (not sure if they are still there, as I was discharged by my Onc straight after rads!) asked if I would like volunteer transport for the 5 and a half weeks of rads, knowing how far away I lived and it entailed a ferry journey. It was winter and some days when we have gale force winds neither the Torpoint car ferry or the foot ferry from Cremyll can make it across the Tamar. There were no notices in the Oncology suite about this service, so I was surprised, especially as she didn’t know my then 75 yrs old husband is disabled - perhaps she is one of the “white witches” that myth has it live in the local village. This is a weird place to live.

I agreed to the service and was even more surprised to learn that if you live in Cornwall and are being treated at Derriford, you don’t have to pay for the service. Yet, quite unfairly to my mind, patients in Devon, even if they live 10 mins from the hospital, have to pay £4.50 each way, and for 5 and a half weeks, that is quite a chunk out of elderly folks’ retirement pensions. I did ask the various drivers why this was, but none could give me answer. We are not on any income benefits, and no questions as to our finances were asked. I don’t know if this service is available to all cancer patients, never thought to ask at the time, but we did pick up other patients for dialysis and a young guy locally who has severe MS. This could sometimes take 6 hours, just for 5 mins of rads, but it is a one and a half hour’s journey each way for me, and being retired was not a problem. I just took a soft drink and a book and sat in the back of the car. Had some lovely interesting journeys to Looe, Polperro, St. Austell etc. and one bizarre day to Bude on the North Cornwall coast. Magical mystery tours at no cost! The male drivers were great - most of them had lost their wives to cancer and it was their way of putting something back into health care services. They usually had a cancer collection box in the car, so I would make sure I had change to put a donation in.

I can’t now remember the names of the two elderly receptionists in the Oncology suite - seemed like tartars as first, but I took them both a big box of chocolates when going through chemo, and although it is a bribe in the loosest sense, it does oil the wheels. When I had problems with my initial Onc, at my first chemo treatment, which I nearly didn’t have as he frightened me, saying I would die of septicaemia if I continued to take my Crohn’s chemo, I said to the receptionist I would see anyone but him - you had to see an Onc before chemo. She made no remark other than “Sit down, I’ll sort it out quickly”. No fuss, no questions, and within 15 mins I saw a lovely young female GP from Plympton who worked one morning a week in the Onc suite. I guess I had two angels on my shoulder that day.

I don’t know where you live, but if you live in Cornwall, you might care to ask about the volunteer car service. It did get me through a very difficult time and I am so grateful.

Hope your rads go well - I found it a doddle compared to chemo!
Liz.

I am getting rads at the Beatson in Glasgow and when I got the appointment sheet through prior to my planning session there was a form to fill in detailing your car registration - you hand this in and they give you something to display in your car which gives you free car parking.

Not applicable in my case as there is also a voluntary driver scheme in my area… they are great, they pick me up from work, drive me to hospital, wait for me and then take me home… this service is totally free. On an odd occassion in the past 4 weeks I’ve asked if they would mind dropping me some place other than home and they have been delighted to oblige… one dropped me at my friends house 2 towns away and asked me if I needed picked up later and taken home.

The Beatson has parking spaces for disabled drivers and also spaces for voluntary drivers… the parking attendants are quite good at booking ppl who abuse these spaces. In the last week I have been annoyed to see the exact same flash car parked in the vol drivers bay without a badge but also delighted to see a parking ticket on it every day too!

you are very lucky our voluntary drivers ask for £10 to cover costs, for each appointment !!!

Flipping heck - if I had to pay £10 per appointment my Rads bill would be £300.

My Voluntary Drivers are all part of a charity which pays their petrol and there is no cost to the patient whatsoever.

The MD of the sister company I work for actually lost his wife to BC 5 years ago and he set up a memorial fund in her name … this fund is massive (he’s a very rich man who knows many other very rich men) and has just donated £29K to the vol. drivers charity.

Hi girls

I’d like a rich man!!!

I live in Wales and I parked in a disabled parking, (did not have blue badge as I had not applied for one) but there was no spaces about and I had to have chemo.
When I came out I had a ticket for £60 on my windscreen, I appealed and explained to them about chemo etc I never heard from them after that.
Prob owe thousands now!!! That’s why I need a rich man!!! no only joking but I honestly never heard.