Parking ticket - Pay up? Fair cop?

Policing parking is never cheap. And you want the NHS to pay for this rather than the driver?

Handing out tokens for an automatic barrier by reception staff who are already noting your arrival is hardly expensive.

I have already covered visits by patients and visitors.

Deliveries, collections, maintenance people, all have to declare their arrival to someone anyway and again, they can hand out a token or just press the intercom on the way out and the receptionist can remotely open the barrier.

Any reason for being there warrants a token, other than parking up to go somewhere other than the hospital.

It is enough to stop commuters just parking up for the day.

The big cost is monitoring, checking for overstays, processing payment, issuing penalties, etc. In my system (as operated by many city centre hotels), none of that is necessary. Just a barrier that only opens when a token is used.

Yes, some people will manage to cheat the system and get away with it, but it stops the vast majority of commuters or shoppers abusing the system.

SteveW

Charging patients and visitors is hardly providing care that is free at the point of use. It is outrageous that people are penalised simply for getting themselves to an appointment - particularly as many local services have been closed down and people are forced to travel to distant, city-centre super-hospitals.

SteveW

All the ones round here say in large letters ANPR in use as you enter by whatever means. Some even greet you with your registration and time.

Pay on return to car or sometimes within 15 minutes of entry - just to make life interesting. The latter is a bit of a scam since you have to buy extra time just in case things take longer than expected.

Does this mean that buses and taxis should also be free for hospital appointments and visits??

Cheers

Interesting, thanks.

Cheers, T i m

They are /if/ you are on certain benefits.

Here starteth a rant.

That still leaves a lot of people - especially elderly people - hit hard by the shift to fewer, bigger hospitals. If they worked and so get the State pension they usually don't qualify as of right for help with travel costs. But many still find the costs of taxis to and from a hospital many miles away a real shock. Even the cost of volunteer drivers can be £20 or more which eats into their modest net disposable income. And what really pisses of a fair few is knowing people who didn't work but get Pension Credit Guarantee Credit end up on the same income but do qualify automatically for the healthcare travel costs scheme. I've heard more than one say they wish they could sacrifice their state pension as the "passport" of pension credit for that and other things would leave them better off. It's a sort of reverse poverty trap.

And the lofty "millionaires don't need free bus passes" brigade still don't understand why so many people hate means-testing.

The courts have already ruled that £80 is a reasonable charge for overstaying so they can charge that. There is also provision for extra charges if you don't pay.

Its better that the person pays than pays a lot more because they choose to ignore it based on poor advice.

Are you going to give those who don't have cars free transport too?

My brother live in Scotland where hospital parking is now free. And despite having a large car park, parking is now impossible. Much more difficult than when paid for.

Patients who need to use a car to get there could be given free passes as needed. A pal who has to attend a specialist hospital in another city gets this. Nor is it means tested or whatever.

On 04/06/2019 12:14, dennis@home wrote: [...]

Certainly only a fool would take legal advice from ukdiy. I for instance got all my legal knowledge from twitter and Crown Court.

TW

for parking contraventions - correct

for not paying the correct amount for your stay - incorrect

It's a breach of contract, which will be covered by the contract on the stick. (and don't try and argue as a matter of principle that contracts on a stick are unenforceable, that ship sailed decades ago)

The law has been specifically changed to respect "penalties" in such contracts (subject to reasonableness) as the quid pro quo for making clamping illegal

you are in the wrong century if you still think that enforcement of these clauses is not allowed.

wrong

the "pension credit" means test for pensioner benefits is ridiculously low. It ought to be at least 10K higher.

tim

wot, not Rumpole!

tim

Driving isn't free either, but charging on top to park when you get there simply because they have moved the services into the town centre is not on.

SteveW

Cars are not free transport. Paying to park for a hospital appointment is adding an extra charge on top - which the governement agred to ban some years ago, but then backtracked on.

The number of patients won't have changed, so either commuters/staff are using it, which can be controlled simply and cheaply, or patients were previously parking elsewhere and walking in to avoid the charges.

Huge numbers of patients use the car, not because their condition demands it, but because they have to get to and from their appointment durign the working day and public transport would lose them too much time off work.

Just moving services six miles or so can change them from simple local access to £20 or more by taxi.

SteveW

Or even from £20 taxi to walking distance depending on where the people live.

For a much smaller number of patients though.

Moves of services are usually amalgamations as well, so although they may end up closer to some people, four or five local services at surrounding hospitals can be closed at the same time, so far more people have to travel further than gain a shorter journey.

SteveW

You know where the patients live, how?

Console themselves with the thought that they're living longer due to the concentration of acute care services.