NHS 'missing out' on car park fees

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The NHS is potentially missing out on millions of pounds a year generated from car parking fees that could be going into the coffers of private companies, an investigation will reveal.

Hospital trusts and health boards in the UK rely heavily on private companies to run their car parks, with five big hospitals admitting that none of the money made goes back into the NHS.

A nationwide freedom of information request by the BBC's Watchdog Daily programme found that from 152 responses, 126 hospital trusts and health boards in the UK have car parks that charge for parking.

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Watchdog: Reader charged £150 for not parking

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Private parking firm recorded our reader on CCTV, got his details from the DVLA and is now chasing him for money

You’d have thought that the 1 October clamping ban would force private parking companies to behave – but you’d be wrong.

Take the case of Phil Jenkins. He drove in and out of a private car park without parking up and getting out of the car – but is now being chased for a £150 charge.

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Chicago: Woman Racks Up $105k In Parking Fines

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A Chicago woman has racked up parking fines of more than $105,000 (£65,500) on a car that she says she does not even own.

Jennifer Fitzgerald's former boyfriend bought a used car from her uncle for $600 (£375) in 2008, but he registered it in her name without her knowledge.

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Leeds hospital car park fines rage

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Drivers have been left with ‘car park rage’ after they were each fined £100 despite buying a parking ticket.

Now the four motorists have told the Yorkshire Evening Post they will not pay as a matter of principal.

Each driver had parked in a privately-managed ‘pay & display’ car park opposite St James’s Hospital on Beckett Street but bought their tickets from a near-by Leeds City Council ticket machine.

Read the full article here

Parking wardens: Hull City Council to take on Vinci Park workers

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Hull City Council is to take over parking enforcement work.

Private contractor Vinci Park has been delivering the service on behalf of the authority since 2006.

The firm's current contract expires at the end of January.

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Hackney Council accused of running parking “protection racket”

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Hackney Council has been accused of running a “protection racket” after a second council parking scheme consultation in less than a year landed on residents’ doorsteps.

Plans to introduce parking controls along Cassland Road in South Hackney and side roads to the north were rejected last December, but the new questionnaire comes as a result of popular demand, according to the council.

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No cheaper rate for short-term parking at hospital, at least until 2015

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Hospital chiefs have rejected calls from borough politicians to lower the contentiously high parking charges at Watford general hospital.

A hospital boss told councillors last night that there will be no change to charges until at least 2015.

Eric Fehily, associate director of infrastructure at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said the trust was locked into a contract with the company managing it car parks and could not alter its fees until it ends.

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Cost of enforcement exceeds fines

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The issuing of parking tickets in East Devon could lose £3.6million of taxpayers’ cash over four years.

A recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request by the Journal has revealed the financial cost of traffic wardens, since parking enforcement was transferred from the police to the district council in spring 2008.

But East Devon District Council (EDDC) bosses insist that parking enforcement is not seen as a ‘cash cow’, and is vital to avoid parking chaos.

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£100 fine for parking error was too much

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HAVING read various letters on bus lane driving and the £60 fine I had to laugh.

I recently parked in Keaton Road car park, Ivybridge. I put a £2 ticket (2 hours) on my car and went over the road for a dental appointment. After 17 minutes I returned to find a ticket on my windscreen, reason: exceeds marked bay area. How much? £100. I was shocked. The car park was almost empty so I was in no one's way. I am a pensioner and this is a lot of money to me.

As it is a private car park, the owners P.P.S can charge what they like. It is a disgrace and I hope this letter serves as a warning to anyone thinking of parking in Keaton Road. I never will again.

I would like to make it clear that I am not complaining about the fine, just the exorbitant amount!

Free charge for electric cars at council car park

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Drivers can recharge their electric cars for free during the winter months.

Central Beds Council has installed an electric car parking charging pointing at its headquarters in Chicksands.

Two electric vehicles can be charged at any one time using the charging posts. And until March 2013 members of the public can charge their cars for free thanks to national funding.

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Car cloners are to blame for my parking ticket, says OAP

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A RETIRED company director who is appealing against a parking fine insists his car has been "cloned".

Gordon Palmer was told his car was seen parked on double yellow lines in Derby.

The city council even sent him pictures of the offending ice-blue Toyota Yaris.

While the registration plate in the images matches that on his car, Mr Palmer, 73, says some minor differences show it is not his car.

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Lynda wins her fight to overturn car park fine

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A shopper has won her battle to overturn a parking fine slapped on her car after she accepted a stranger’s ticket.

Lynda Double was ordered to pay £80 after a fellow driver offered her his ticket which still had an hour and a half to run.

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Hospital parking coins in £478,000

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PATIENTS, visitors and staff at St Mary’s Hospital paid out £478,000 in parking charges last year.

Figures released last month reveal the average hospital trust collects £1.055 million a year in parking charges, more than twice the amount ten years ago, and some pocket nearly £4 million.

Read the full article here

Find-a-parking space app could be helping traffic wardens target your car

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Metereye technology beams signal from sensor under road just before space becomes free

A parking sensor promoted as tool to help drivers find free spaces could also enable traffic wardens to dish out more fines. 

Motoring organisations have warned the Metereye system could help wardens make a beeline to vehicles which have overstayed a parking space.

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NHS hospitals charge patients up to £3 an hour for parking

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One in three NHS hospitals has increased car parking charges for patients and visitors, official figures have disclosed.

Some hospitals tripled fees for patients and their friends and relations, with a handful now charging £3 an hour for parking.

Parking charges are feared to affect elderly people and their families in particular because they are among the most likely to need to drive to hospital, either as patients or visitors.

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Father to fight daughter's late night parking ticket

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A FATHER is challenging a parking ticket issued in a deserted car park at midnight.

Paignton student Rebecca Moody parked at the Bridge retail car park at Lowes Bridge, Torquay, while she walked to the neighbouring McDonalds.

Her father, Anthony Moody, (pictured) was stunned when she told him of a £60 fine issued, photos supposedly showing the car parked breaking the rules.

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Croydon Council making £12 per minute from parking fines

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DRIVERS in Croydon are being fined £12 every minute for parking offences, the Advertiser can reveal.

A total of £6.3 million was collected by Croydon Council in parking tickets – Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) – between April 1 2011 and March 31 this year.

This is up around £500,000 on the figure for the previous year.

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Bournemouth's parking meters still not being enforced

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JUST IN CASE: Scott Major using a parking meter
 in Bourne Avenue, Bournemouth, even though
 enforcement has come to a grinding halt

BOURNEMOUTH’S parking meters are still not being enforced while an investigation is carried out.

No on-street parking fines have been issued for almost two months, after an appeal against a penalty charge notice revealed possible errors in Traffic Regulation Orders.

But the council is still advising motorists to pay for their on-street parking and is warning that enforcement would be reinstated at any time.

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Cutbacks run traffic police off the road

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A sharp fall in the number of officers across the country is sparking fears of a rise in crime and bad driving.

The new I-Spy book of cars gives young spotters 30 points if they see a Ferrari or Maserati, but the next edition may have to include another increasingly rare sight: police traffic officers. 

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Hampstead Heath rangers to double up as parking wardens

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Hampstead Heath rangers are set to trade in shovels for ticketing machines as they double up as parking wardens.

While the rangers are normally seen tending to the flora and fauna, as of next Sunday (November 18) they will be handing out £100 penalties to motorists who have not paid to park on the Heath.

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Worcester car parking income ‘set to fall £250,000 short’

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CAR parking revenue in Worcester is forecast to be £250,000 below budget by the spring, it has emerged.

More and more drivers have been counting the pennies and leaving their vehicles in residential streets rather than fork out.

The worst reduction is at St Martin’s Gate car park, which has seen income fall25 per cent year-on-year since the opening of Asda.

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Tolls proposed to part-fund new East London river crossings

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Tolls could be introduced on the Blackwall Tunnel in East London as a way of part-funding two new crossings of the Thames.
Transport for London has launched a consultation on providing additional river crossings in East London at two locations:

• a £600m Silvertown road tunnel, close to the Blackwall Tunnel, connecting the Greenwich peninsula with Silvertown
  
• a £150m ferry at Gallions Reach, linking Thamesmead and Beckton, or a new tunnel or bridge at the same location (also estimated to cost about £600m)
  

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Man wins appeal against parking ticket as signs were unclear in chippenham

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The blue sign hidden by the pillar in a picture
Mr Samuels, took at the time of his ticket

Motorist John Samuels has won an appeal against a parking ticket he received at Emery Gate Car Park, Chippenham, after an independent adjudicator ruled the signage was inadequate.

Mr Samuels said his battle to get the ticket overturned cost him more than the £50 fine but he wanted to prove Wiltshire Council was wrong.

Mr Samuels, a freelance cameraman who lives near Glastonbury, got the parking ticket when he parked in Emery Gate car park on April 18.

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Fraudulent Westminster Council parking charge email sent

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At least 800 fraudulent emails have been sent telling people they owe Westminster Council money for parking.

Richard Loraine-Smith from Pewsey, in Wiltshire, said he was emailed by an address claiming to be firm PayByPhone saying that he owed the council £33.30

"How dare they get my details and send me spurious emails. I have never been to that street in my life."

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PARKING FINE? IT’S A JOKE SAYS CARLISLE PENSIONER

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A pensioner has received a £100 fine – because he visited a Carlisle car park twice in the same day.

Tommy Salkeld, 66, visited the Asda store on St Nicholas Gate Retail Park twice on October 13.

The rules state that cars are only allowed to park at the complex – which is home to Burger King, Halfords, Asda and Toys ‘R’ Us – for two hours.

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Parking charges NHS patients' biggest concern

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Parking charges not healthcare is the biggest concern of NHS hospital patients, according to a survey.

The Saga study found that paying for parking topped worries about the quality of healthcare, cleanliness and standard of hospital food.

Read the full article here

DVLA suspends six BPA members from obtaining vehicle keeper data

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BPA's Patrick Troy

BPA’s Patrick Troy says DVLA wrong to ban six enforcement firms over signage flaws 

Six parking enforcement firms have been banned from receiving the details of vehicle keepers for at least three months.

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Shocking pictures 'show traffic warden being caught threatening to hand out ticket... then letting off driver in return for £20 bribe'

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These photos show how a traffic warden in a £4.40-an-hour zone was allegedly caught threatening to hand out a parking ticket - but then backed down after being handed a £20 bribe by a driver.

A journalist was parked without a ticket on a street in London’s Mayfair when a civil enforcement officer (CEO) wearing a Westminster City Council jacket approached and threatened to fine him.

But the traffic warden, employed by the UK’s biggest parking contractor NSL, allegedly said he could ‘sort something out’ if he was paid - and would stop any local wardens putting a ticket on the car.

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Northampton’s £1.1M parking penalty income runs at a loss

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By Richard Edmondson

Published on Monday 5 November 2012 07:28

Parking wardens handed out more than £1.1m in parking fines last year across Northamptonshire, but the overall service still made a loss, new figures revealed.

Read the full article here

Good Samaritan gets parking ticket for helping disabled man

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THIS is the moment a Poole man was slapped with a £75 fine as he helped an elderly disabled gent on his mobility scooter.

His kind actions were snapped by a Borough of Poole camera car, but despite them clearly showing him struggling to help a man in trouble – the fine was issued and the council refused to budge.

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Defeat over car park VAT fees to cost councils £1bn

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Councils have lost a billion-pound battle with the taxman over the payment of VAT on car park fees. Four councils – the Isle of Wight, West Berkshire, Mid-Suffolk District and South Tyneside Metropolitan – had brought a test case before a tax tribunal. 

They argued they should not have paid VAT on off-street parking fees, saying it was part of their traffic management duties, which are exempt. 

Other councils had similar claims against the taxman – some going back to 1973 – and had been standing by awaiting the ruling.

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PARK 'N' BRIBE AS WARDEN TAKES £20 NOT TO ISSUE TICKET

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ABOVE: Traffic wardens have come
 under pressure for taking bribes
(model pic)

THIS traffic warden is caught red-handed taking cash in 

return for not ­slapping a motorist with a hefty fine.

The official offered our man free rein to park all day in a costly 

parking bay in exchange for a £20 bung.

Now the warden could be slapped with a P45 by his employers.

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Bath's Royal United 'took £1.3m in parking charges'

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Hospitals across the region are taking about £7.5 million a year from people in parking charges, research has shown.

Bath's Royal United Hospital took £1.3 million, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Western Daily Press reported how NHS trusts in the Bristol area raked in more than £2.3 million last year, from patients, visitors and staff.

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Greater Manchester hospitals raise £47m by charging patients and staff to park

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The huge cost of parking charges to hospital patients in Greater Manchester is revealed today. Hospital car parks have raked in nearly £47m from patients, and staff in the last six years.

Figures obtained by the M.E.N show some hospital trusts are generating seven-figure sums every year.

Patents, visitors and staff paid more than £2.5m to park at the Central Manchester Hospitals complex in the last financial year.

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Roadchef cooks up £90 parking fine

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I recently parked at a Roadchef services on the M1 for three hours without realising there was a fee if you park for longer than two. As a result, I have received a "charge notice" from a company called CP Plus which, I believe, manages the parking, demanding £90, reduced to £50 if I pay within 14 days. I checked the Roadchef website which confirmed there is a charge and a "penalty" if you stay beyond two hours.

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Police van parked on school zig zags in Hoo

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A police officer is being investigated after an angry parent photographed her van parked on zig-zag lines outside a school.

The inquiry was launched after parents spotted the van parked outside Hoo St Werburgh Primary on October 11.

The vehicle was parked on the yellow lines in a "no stopping" zone.

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Council parkers brought to book at Trowbridge library

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USERS at Trowbridge’s newly revamped library have found themselves unable to park as Wiltshire Council staff take up spaces reserved for the public.

The new library was unveiled by the council in September as part of the £24m refurbishment of County Hall, which had its official opening today, but staff based at the new HQ have been using the 42 spaces reserved for the public, to the frustration of visitors.

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