My mother received a police FPN notice for parking on the road outside a hospital, it was double yellows and she parked slightly on the pavement to avoid obstructing the road. She was taking her husband to A&E, he was in no state to walk any distance and has a blue badge that was displayed at the time.
The car was there for app. 3 hours as it took a while to see nurses etc. and when the opportunity arose she moved the car to a car park.
I have looked at the FPN it is coded and worded " causing uneccessary obstruction" it has a single date on the top and only one time box is filled the other time box is crossed through.
I have read on here about dates on PCNs but I am not sure if the same rule applies to FPNs?
I have searched for any similar cases and advice was given that it has to be an ACTUAL, rather than theoretical, obstruction would it be worth asking for evidence of this?
I assume I am posting this query in the right place, it is obstruction rather than parking, but what is the best way to deal with this?
My mother had tried to pay over the phone by card but couldn't get a reply on the number given, I have asked her to wait until I had found out a little more before she just hands over the money!
Thanks in advance for any help in this matter.

PS, it was outside Whiston Hospital Merseyside.

a police FPN and a council PCN are entirely seperate

the latter is part of the decriminalised parking system with appeal
to the parking adjudicator (PATAS in london or NPAS)

a police FPN is notification of a crime (causisng an obstruction)
and that you can accept a fixed penalty - probably reduced
for prompt payment

if you dont pay your mother will recieve a court summons
and the matter will be decided in the magistrates court
you may find that if found guilty she also has to pay costs

a PCN and the decriminalised process is very specific with lots
of opportunites to make mistakes (see all the postings here)

the police FPN less so as they are acting on the crime not the FPN
the FPN is just a way of short cutting the court process
even if defective she has still committed the crime

that said the police do have to follow certain procedures for crimes
and FPNs - i am not an expert here but certasinly the various PCN defences noted here are not applicable

the police eveidence on obstruction would be persuasive - parked 3hrs on a double yellow on the pavement outside a hospital would seem
to be hard to rebutt the possibility of obstruction for vehicles and
persons on the pavement (eg wheelchairs)

the blue badge is no defence against causing an obstruction

if you have a prompt payment discount then you shoudl probably
pay and save your time and trouble

others here with more expereince of police procedures may have other opinions


ps i hope your father in law is feeling better

Not so. If it is not paid, it will be enforced as if it was from a Court. If you wish to contest an FPN in Court, you must take positive action to tell them so.

thats correct - you have to choose to go to court for an FPN