DRIVERS visiting Eastbourne District General Hospital will no longer face £40 charges for returning to their cars late – thanks to a new ticketing system.
The hospital is planning to overhaul its parking charges so people pay when they exit instead of when they arrive. A spokesman said the new tickets would be fairer and reduce the need for parking enforcement.
The hospital receives around 80 car park
ing appeals a month.
Parking is controlled by Northamptonshire-based private company County Parking Enforcement Agency Ltd.
Susan Chant visited the hospital last month to visit her sick father and take her husband, who had hit his head, for a brain scan.
After hearing some distressing news she forgot her parking ticket and returned to her car an hour late to find a penalty notice for £40.
She described the parking rules as 'scandalous, picking on vulnerable people'.
Mrs Chant appealed to County Parking, enclosing a cheque for the money, but found the cheque had been cashed before she received a letter saying her appeal had been dismissed.
On the next day she had a fresh letter saying the money had in fact been refunded.
She said, "It was a bittersweet ending. I got my money back but I didn't want to go through all that to get my money back.
"With the current system people are going to cut their visits short to tie in with their parking whereas if they pay when they leave they would stay longer, parking companies would get more revenue and there would be no need for a warden. Everyone wins."
She was charged £40 for the expired parking ticket which was left an hour but said she felt this was unfair as those who left their cars unticketed all day were also fined £40.
A spokesman for the hospital said motorists would be charged £40 in all instances where they did not comply with parking regulations.
Mrs Chant is happy a new pay-on-exit system is to be introduced but also wants to see free parking for people entering the A&E department.
She said, "At the moment the system is preying on vulnerable people.
"When at the hospital the last thing you think about is your blinking car. They need a new system."
The hospital spokesman said under the new parking rules all visitors to the hospital would be charged regardless of what department they were going to.
It is not yet known when the new parking scheme will be introduced.
The full article contains 424 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
