Parking Charge for Doctor's Visit |
Parking Charge for Doctor's Visit |
Sat, 23 Mar 2019 - 11:09
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 471 Joined: 11 May 2009 Member No.: 28,628 |
Hello all,
I returned from holiday this morning to find a nasty surprise on the doormat in the form of a parking charge notice related to a visit to the doctor's. The visit in question was on the day my family were flying out and it was an urgent visit (without appointment) to get a prescription for my young boy. It took about twenty minutes, which ties in with the time on the letter. There is no charge to park in this car park for up to two hours for the purposes of visiting the health centre. Where it seems the driver went wrong is in not registering the number plate (or possibly doing it wrong) inside the surgery. I'm looking for suggestions on whether an appeal setting out the circumstances is worthwhile or whether to try a more technical line of argument or whether just to pay it. Thanks |
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Sat, 23 Mar 2019 - 11:09
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Sat, 23 Mar 2019 - 11:21
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 17,088 Joined: 8 Mar 2013 Member No.: 60,457 |
So you complain to the head of practise in that you are being charged for an emergency visit, which is contrary to the NHS parking requirements.
What does the sign say, photo would help, and can you post up the redacted NTK, with the dates left in. If the signs asking for registration are inside the surgery and not obvious then there can be no parking contract. |
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Sat, 23 Mar 2019 - 14:03
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 471 Joined: 11 May 2009 Member No.: 28,628 |
Here is the letter:
Signs to follow when I get a chance.... Thanks |
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Sat, 23 Mar 2019 - 16:58
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#4
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Member Group: Members Posts: 17,088 Joined: 8 Mar 2013 Member No.: 60,457 |
Well they have failed to issue the invitation required by POFA 9(2) (e) and also failed to identify the creditor, 9 (h)
Interesting to see the signs if it's because of "not authorised" |
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Sun, 24 Mar 2019 - 06:58
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#5
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Member Group: Members Posts: 292 Joined: 9 Mar 2015 Member No.: 76,209 |
Just 1 day short of being outside the 14 day window.
Was the prescription sorted on the phone there and then ready for collection? If so there would be a record of your request on file to show that the driver was there for valid reasons and the surgery should be able to speak with ECP to cancel the notice. |
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Mon, 25 Mar 2019 - 09:52
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#6
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Member Group: Members Posts: 471 Joined: 11 May 2009 Member No.: 28,628 |
I emailed the practice manager at the weekend and just received a call from the surgery who say they have a record of the visit that they will email to me. I've found photos of the signs on another thread about the same site that I'll post up.
The prescription was sorted out there and then in person -- no phone calls required. |
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Tue, 26 Mar 2019 - 00:48
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#7
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Member Group: Members Posts: 471 Joined: 11 May 2009 Member No.: 28,628 |
Below are images of the signs. As I mentioned before, these are pinched from another thread about the same site.
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Tue, 26 Mar 2019 - 07:39
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#8
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Member Group: Members Posts: 17,088 Joined: 8 Mar 2013 Member No.: 60,457 |
So the sign says "Authorised parking fo patients only" without making an offer of a parking contract for unauthorised. Forbidding sign. Alleged failure is for unauthorised parking so the only claimant, given lack of contract, would be the landowner for trespass.
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Tue, 26 Mar 2019 - 13:14
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#9
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Member Group: Members Posts: 2,053 Joined: 20 May 2013 Member No.: 62,052 |
I think forbidding signage is a large stretch. The sign appears to offer parking to patients, which the driver/passenger was. So there was a valid offer, capable of acceptance, with some contractual obligations attached (like registering the VPN)l.
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Tue, 23 Apr 2019 - 16:32
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#10
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Member Group: Members Posts: 471 Joined: 11 May 2009 Member No.: 28,628 |
I received a response this afternoon. They are standing by the claim that the parking was unauthorised as the VRM wasn't correctly typed into the machine inside the surgery, despite the fact I provided proof of the visit. Nevertheless, it has been cancelled "on this occasion".
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Thu, 25 Apr 2019 - 13:47
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#11
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Member Group: Members Posts: 3,283 Joined: 5 Jan 2012 Member No.: 52,178 |
That's good news.
Maybe you want to remind the Health Centre of the very real chance of breach of patient confidentiality their system brings about. If you had received this notice, yet you were unaware of any visit to the Health Centre, it could have been that a family member had used the car to visit there on a confidential medical matter that they rather you didn't know about. And now their cover has been blown. Maybe the Practice Manager would have something to say about that. This post has been edited by The Slithy Tove: Thu, 25 Apr 2019 - 13:48 |
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