StuartO Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 Violet1956 - 2017-12-08 12:52 AM..... It was me who swiped the ticket off her to make representations. She was going to pay it, so comments about her 'cheating' are misplaced, she didn't moan about it at all these are my views not hers. So you're the person who's trying to cheat the charges for her then, inflicting your misplaced, self-righteous ideas on a nice old lady who has the good sense to pay up when she's been caught over-staying? Are you going to drag her along to the appeal hearing so you can have your rant about her rights, she'll really enjoy doing that won't she? And if she's old and frail with a dodgy foot, it sounds like she should be thinking about giving up driving herself, not waiting until some doctor confronts her about it. It would probably be cheaper overall for her to use taxis anyway. Or do you think she should exercise her rights to keep her car and her independence because you think it's her right, until she has an accident and frightens herself to death? Would you be happy being her passenger or is this a road risk you would only impose on others? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Wilkes Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 my wife is disabled and uses an electric wheelchair and always displays her blue badge, however some hospitals that we go to charge us for parking. I know this can be abused by some but when we went last week the people who were managing the car park were letting non disabled people use the blue badge bays without fines because the car park was so busy. We asked about this and they said it was standard practice between 2 and 4 pm. We asked what would happen if there were no blue bays left and no free spaces left and the and the attendant just walked off and didn't answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 Mark Wilkes - 2017-12-08 1:31 AMmy wife is disabled and uses an electric wheelchair and always displays her blue badge, however some hospitals that we go to charge us for parking. I know this can be abused by some but when we went last week the people who were managing the car park were letting non disabled people use the blue badge bays without fines because the car park was so busy. We asked about this and they said it was standard practice between 2 and 4 pm. We asked what would happen if there were no blue bays left and no free spaces left and the and the attendant just walked off and didn't answer. Marked spaces for disabled people who have serious mobility problems are obviously a good thing, providing enough space to unload wheelchairs etc as well as a space closer to the action for people who need crutches - but why should they be free? Don't people who have serious mobility problems get other benefits which compensate for their special needs? I can understand your resentment about disabled spaces being used for non-disabled people just because the other spaces are all full but should disabled people expect to have exclusive use of priviledged spaces when everyone else is queuing and taking turns? If there is only limited space for parking cars, why shouldn't disabled people face the same problem as anyone else when car parks are full? Should disabled people really expect to have unlimited exclusive facilities and to have the right to jump queues simply because they are disabled? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 Mark Wilkes - 2017-12-07 10:31 AM ...the people who were managing the car park were letting non disabled people use the blue badge bays without fines because the car park was so busy. We asked about this and they said it was standard practice between 2 and 4 pm. We asked what would happen if there were no blue bays left and no free spaces left and the and the attendant just walked off and didn't answer. Presumably the same that would happen if all of the "blue bays" were full up with Blue badge owners(with it being a hospital, quite possible), that is, you'd need to find somewhere else to park. I would've thought that with parking being what it is at busy hospitals, unless someone is having to travel many miles out of their area, maybe to see a specialist etc, a taxi would be the obvious option..? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet1956 Posted December 7, 2017 Author Share Posted December 7, 2017 pepe63 - 2017-12-07 10:18 AM Violet1956 - 2017-12-07 9:52 AM antony1969 - 2017-12-07 9:47 AM Given she's got arthritis , 75 and a gammy foot surely a taxi may have been more suitable and less dangerous to her and others Drives an automatic - no doctor has told her she is unfit to drive.... Is that supposed to make her "case" stronger?.... :-S ;-) No, just a response to Antony's suggestion that a taxi was more suitable implying that there was some danger to be avoided by her driving herself to the hospital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet1956 Posted December 7, 2017 Author Share Posted December 7, 2017 StuartO - 2017-12-07 10:26 AMViolet1956 - 2017-12-08 12:52 AM..... It was me who swiped the ticket off her to make representations. She was going to pay it, so comments about her 'cheating' are misplaced, she didn't moan about it at all these are my views not hers. So you're the person who's trying to cheat the charges for her then, inflicting your misplaced, self-righteous ideas on a nice old lady who has the good sense to pay up when she's been caught over-staying? Are you going to drag her along to the appeal hearing so you can have your rant about her rights, she'll really enjoy doing that won't she? And if she's old and frail with a dodgy foot, it sounds like she should be thinking about giving up driving herself, not waiting until some doctor confronts her about it. It would probably be cheaper overall for her to use taxis anyway. Or do you think she should exercise her rights to keep her car and her independence because you think it's her right, until she has an accident and frightens herself to death? Would you be happy being her passenger or is this a road risk you would only impose on others?"My misplaced self-righteous ideas" -Stuart? I agree there are arguments for and against hospital parking charges but I do wish you would refrain from attacking me personally in such a derogatory fashion. There are possibly more people who read these posts who would contribute to the discussion but for the likelihood that they would come under some form of personal attack for expressing them. (She's driven me many places and is entirely competent btw). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 We too have some experience of hospitals and their car park charges and living some 15 miles from Worcester, public transport is not viable and a taxi would be very costly. There is a hospital car service which is free and they do their best but as they cannot be in two places at once it often, so I am told, involves the patient arriving very early followed by a long wait after an appointment, which may not be a problem for some but for others time spent on a not overly comfortable chair often in a cough infectious area is not wonderful. To confound matters there is no way of telling how long an appointment will take. Sometimes we can be in and out in ten minutes and sometimes it can take well upwards of TWO hours. Perhaps if hospitals respected our time in the same way that we are asked to respect theirs it would help? To suggest paying for several hours to park a car when it may only be a matter of minutes is not really viable in my view and for anyone to impose a penalty charge that far exceeds their actual loss - which is only the parking fee that might have been paid by another user - is outrageous - especially near a hospital where stay times can be so unpredictable. Had they issued a penalty charge notice refelecting the unpaid for timw plus a sensible 'administration' charge I doubt any reasonable person would object but the sheer greed and exploitation that is the norm for such a minor transgression beggars belief. We often find that due to overfull car parks it is easier for us both to go and for one of us to wait in the car or go for a coffee and await a phone call when the other one is ready to leave. Not ideal, but it works, and we avoid paying £2.50 or £4 depending whether it is more or less than 90 minutes stay, which is outrageously greedy in itself and is just another form of unstated taxation for the motorist to bear. I have the utmost sympathy for anyone, often the elderly, who is stung by this greed and I wish you well Veronica in fighting it - make a fuss - get the local paper involved - try and make 'em squirm ! By the way, it's well worth having a blue badge parking card as disabled bays are much wider than most othercar park bays which makes getting in and out much easier as well as reducing the risk of knocks from other less considerate users - and parking is free for badge holders in many car parks so the cost is very quickly recovered. The 'system' encourages it so who are we not to follow the system and not only have easy to use parking but save ourselves a few quid in the process! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 Bulletguy - 2017-12-06 10:50 PM PJay - 2017-12-06 10:19 PM i would cancel the "Winter fuel payment" How many spend it on fuel??? I do, and the payment covers just 33 days absolute max. All those 'snowbirding' Brits should certainly lose the entitlement as what are they spending it on other than cheap booze and fish 'n chips. We spend it on heating too ;-) ......... Its over 10 quid now for a replacement bottle of gas which barely lasts a month 8-) ......... Not to mention what I have to spend on Rioja antifreeze to help the on old circulation :D ....... Its not all fish and chips you know *-) ........ I'm doing a fish chowder today, served with a chilled 1.49 euro bottle of Cava B-) ........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 Violet1956 - 2017-12-08 2:05 AMStuartO - 2017-12-07 10:26 AMViolet1956 - 2017-12-08 12:52 AM..... It was me who swiped the ticket off her to make representations. She was going to pay it, so comments about her 'cheating' are misplaced, she didn't moan about it at all these are my views not hers. So you're the person who's trying to cheat the charges for her then, inflicting your misplaced, self-righteous ideas on a nice old lady who has the good sense to pay up when she's been caught over-staying? Are you going to drag her along to the appeal hearing so you can have your rant about her rights, she'll really enjoy doing that won't she? And if she's old and frail with a dodgy foot, it sounds like she should be thinking about giving up driving herself, not waiting until some doctor confronts her about it. It would probably be cheaper overall for her to use taxis anyway. Or do you think she should exercise her rights to keep her car and her independence because you think it's her right, until she has an accident and frightens herself to death? Would you be happy being her passenger or is this a road risk you would only impose on others? "My misplaced self-righteous ideas" -Stuart? I agree there are arguments for and against hospital parking charges but I do wish you would refrain from attacking me personally in such a derogatory fashion. There are possibly more people who read these posts who would contribute to the discussion but for the likelihood that they would come under some form of personal attack for expressing them. (She's driven me many places and is entirely competent btw). I was challenging your ideas, including your decison to take over and challenge the system for her and your plan to drag the nice old lady along to the appeal hearing, whether she likes it or not. Hard talk perhaps but hardly a personal insult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 I'm somewhat in two minds over parking, whilst I'd rather not pay directly out of my pocket on my last visit to the Lister hospital I parked in a 'new' multi story carpark which was built to ease parking problems, now should the cost of building that come from the NHS budget? because someone has to pay for it somewhere down the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 colin - 2017-12-07 11:25 AM I'm somewhat in two minds over parking, whilst I'd rather not pay directly out of my pocket on my last visit to the Lister hospital I parked in a 'new' multi story carpark which was built to ease parking problems, now should the cost of building that come from the NHS budget? because someone has to pay for it somewhere down the line. Fair point Colin, and I agree, fair parking charges and reasonable penalty fees are one thing but where the cost of parking at a hospital far exceeds the charges at a similar local car park is this a fair taxation on car owners who already contribute so much to the treasury? It is of course not unreasonable for car users to pay for the facilities they use, much like it is not unreasonable for rail travellers to pay for the system they use - the key words being 'fair' and 'reasonable'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 Bulletguy - 2017-12-06 10:50 PM PJay - 2017-12-06 10:19 PM i would cancel the "Winter fuel payment" How many spend it on fuel??? I do, and the payment covers just 33 days absolute max. Blimey BG...200 quid (ish?) and just 33 days? Do they pay this Winter fuel allowance in old £1 notes, for folk to burn?... (lol) Our gas(cooking & heating) and electric(lighting) combined is only £53 a month... :-S (Again, apologies this time to Colin and Rich, for crossing their posts..I was trying to divert, and lighten the mood a little.. :$ ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 PJay - 2017-12-06 10:19 PM I would cancel the "Winter fuel payment" How many spend it on fuel??? PJay I would not cancel the wfp as some people do find it helps, but I would certainly make it taxable at the highest rate of income tax one pays to concentrate the benefit more towards those that need it. If our £200 ended up at £160 net it would make no difference whatsover to our lifestyle and there are many like us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 Re; Charges etc. I suppose it boils down to folk only really being concerned with stuff that affects them,or those close to them.. Now whether or not that is selfish or just human nature(or both!),who knows... If 65+ year olds were exempt from hospital car parking charges, very few on here would give a stuff.. (just like I doubt they give much of a stuff about prescription charges..). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 I'm not suggesting an exemption from parking charges for anyone, after all if you can afford to run a car you should be able to afford reasonable car parking charges . On the other hand hospital visits are hardly the way one would choose to spend time parking so reasonable charges and penalties should apply. Prescription charges are another area that, as far as I know, nobody sensible takes medication because they enjoy it but if you saw the list of prescritions we use the cost would be like a mortgage each month. I appreciate there are NHS 'season' tickets for those with lots of medications but they too are not cheap at £104 a year so maybe a low cost of prescription charge of say £1 per item for anyone who is an income tax payer would raise a lot of income for the NHS and focus a few minds on whether they actually need so much medication? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet1956 Posted December 7, 2017 Author Share Posted December 7, 2017 Tracker - 2017-12-07 11:09 AM We too have some experience of hospitals and their car park charges and living some 15 miles from Worcester, public transport is not viable and a taxi would be very costly. There is a hospital car service which is free and they do their best but as they cannot be in two places at once it often, so I am told, involves the patient arriving very early followed by a long wait after an appointment, which may not be a problem for some but for others time spent on a not overly comfortable chair often in a cough infectious area is not wonderful. To confound matters there is no way of telling how long an appointment will take. Sometimes we can be in and out in ten minutes and sometimes it can take well upwards of TWO hours. Perhaps if hospitals respected our time in the same way that we are asked to respect theirs it would help? To suggest paying for several hours to park a car when it may only be a matter of minutes is not really viable in my view and for anyone to impose a penalty charge that far exceeds their actual loss - which is only the parking fee that might have been paid by another user - is outrageous - especially near a hospital where stay times can be so unpredictable. Had they issued a penalty charge notice refelecting the unpaid for timw plus a sensible 'administration' charge I doubt any reasonable person would object but the sheer greed and exploitation that is the norm for such a minor transgression beggars belief. We often find that due to overfull car parks it is easier for us both to go and for one of us to wait in the car or go for a coffee and await a phone call when the other one is ready to leave. Not ideal, but it works, and we avoid paying £2.50 or £4 depending whether it is more or less than 90 minutes stay, which is outrageously greedy in itself and is just another form of unstated taxation for the motorist to bear. I have the utmost sympathy for anyone, often the elderly, who is stung by this greed and I wish you well Veronica in fighting it - make a fuss - get the local paper involved - try and make 'em squirm ! By the way, it's well worth having a blue badge parking card as disabled bays are much wider than most othercar park bays which makes getting in and out much easier as well as reducing the risk of knocks from other less considerate users - and parking is free for badge holders in many car parks so the cost is very quickly recovered. The 'system' encourages it so who are we not to follow the system and not only have easy to use parking but save ourselves a few quid in the process! Some well made points Rich. I am trying to persuade my neighbour that it is perhaps time for her to apply for a blue badge. The fact that she doesn't have one may be the sticking point on challenging the FPN and if it's not waived she will not be fighting it any further. We are very good friends and are inclined to bully each other a bit on lots of stuff that we think the other ought to be doing without causing any feelings of resentment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet1956 Posted December 7, 2017 Author Share Posted December 7, 2017 StuartO - 2017-12-07 11:17 AMViolet1956 - 2017-12-08 2:05 AMStuartO - 2017-12-07 10:26 AMViolet1956 - 2017-12-08 12:52 AM..... It was me who swiped the ticket off her to make representations. She was going to pay it, so comments about her 'cheating' are misplaced, she didn't moan about it at all these are my views not hers. So you're the person who's trying to cheat the charges for her then, inflicting your misplaced, self-righteous ideas on a nice old lady who has the good sense to pay up when she's been caught over-staying? Are you going to drag her along to the appeal hearing so you can have your rant about her rights, she'll really enjoy doing that won't she? And if she's old and frail with a dodgy foot, it sounds like she should be thinking about giving up driving herself, not waiting until some doctor confronts her about it. It would probably be cheaper overall for her to use taxis anyway. Or do you think she should exercise her rights to keep her car and her independence because you think it's her right, until she has an accident and frightens herself to death? Would you be happy being her passenger or is this a road risk you would only impose on others?"My misplaced self-righteous ideas" -Stuart? I agree there are arguments for and against hospital parking charges but I do wish you would refrain from attacking me personally in such a derogatory fashion. There are possibly more people who read these posts who would contribute to the discussion but for the likelihood that they would come under some form of personal attack for expressing them. (She's driven me many places and is entirely competent btw). I was challenging your ideas, including your decison to take over and challenge the system for her and your plan to drag the nice old lady along to the appeal hearing, whether she likes it or not. Hard talk perhaps but hardly a personal insult. I have no plan to drag her to an appeal hearing nor can an "idea" be termed self-righteous - you meant I was being self righteous and that is plain for all to see. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet1956 Posted December 7, 2017 Author Share Posted December 7, 2017 colin - 2017-12-07 11:25 AM I'm somewhat in two minds over parking, whilst I'd rather not pay directly out of my pocket on my last visit to the Lister hospital I parked in a 'new' multi story carpark which was built to ease parking problems, now should the cost of building that come from the NHS budget? because someone has to pay for it somewhere down the line. I think you have a point Colin that I have overlooked. So long as any parking facility isn’t used as a revenue collecting exercise and all charges are spent on the provision of car parking it is reasonable to expect car users to fund that facility. Also, as long as those parking facilities are pay on exit so that you’re not left guessing how long you are going to be, and there are exceptions to the charging of fees based on extenuating circumstances that are fair, I would not have a problem. The first principle remains for me that any system of charging for the provision of hospital parking that amounts to the equivalent of a tax on the sick, or in some cases their relatives, in order to fund treatment on the NHS is to be avoided. I also think that someone who rushes someone to an A & E department shouldn’t have to pay to park. Calling an ambulance or getting a taxi/bus may not be a reasonable or even a desirable option. Book the patient in and get a sticker or something perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 Sorry Rich, my last post wasn't specifically aimed at anything that you had posted...it just happened to have followed yours... OT- with prescriptions again. I have no problem with the principal of folk paying for prescriptions, it's the fact that 90% of them get dispensed free of charge, leaving just the 10% to pay. ( figures that I'd picked up from an NHS website a few years back). ..and it would be a nonsense for anyone to suggest that nobody in that "90%" is unable to pay something towards their prescription... ? :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antony1969 Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 Violet1956 - 2017-12-07 9:52 AM antony1969 - 2017-12-07 9:47 AM Given she's got arthritis , 75 and a gammy foot surely a taxi may have been more suitable and less dangerous to her and others Drives an automatic - no doctor has told her she is unfit to drive. I've nagged her about getting a blue badge but she's old school and doesn't like to ask for special treatment. It was me who swiped the ticket off her to make representations. She was going to pay it, so comments about her 'cheating' are misplaced, she didn't moan about it at all these are my views not hers. I haven't said she was cheating Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 pepe63 - 2017-12-07 12:40 PM Sorry Rich, my last post wasn't specifically aimed at anything that you had posted...it just happened to have followed yours... No offence taken, but thanks for the thought. But it did raise some points to which I added my two pennerth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet1956 Posted December 7, 2017 Author Share Posted December 7, 2017 antony1969 - 2017-12-07 12:45 PM Violet1956 - 2017-12-07 9:52 AM antony1969 - 2017-12-07 9:47 AM Given she's got arthritis , 75 and a gammy foot surely a taxi may have been more suitable and less dangerous to her and others Drives an automatic - no doctor has told her she is unfit to drive. I've nagged her about getting a blue badge but she's old school and doesn't like to ask for special treatment. It was me who swiped the ticket off her to make representations. She was going to pay it, so comments about her 'cheating' are misplaced, she didn't moan about it at all these are my views not hers. I haven't said she was cheating Sorry Antony I didn't mean to imply you had it was another contributor to this thread that used the term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted December 7, 2017 Share Posted December 7, 2017 pepe63 - 2017-12-07 11:37 AM Bulletguy - 2017-12-06 10:50 PM PJay - 2017-12-06 10:19 PM i would cancel the "Winter fuel payment" How many spend it on fuel??? I do, and the payment covers just 33 days absolute max. Blimey BG...200 quid (ish?) and just 33 days? Do they pay this Winter fuel allowance in old £1 notes, for folk to burn?... (lol) Our gas(cooking & heating) and electric(lighting) combined is only £53 a month... :-S I expect its the cost of keeping all those refugees he's taken in comfortable :D ........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet1956 Posted December 7, 2017 Author Share Posted December 7, 2017 Found this article, sorry it's a bit old-from 2015 but it gives some insight as to how much revenue was being raised by some hospitals from parking charges and who was profiting from it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35157425 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Violet1956 Posted December 7, 2017 Author Share Posted December 7, 2017 Found this article, sorry it's a bit old-from 2015 but it gives some insight as to how much revenue was being raised by some hospitals from parking charges and who was profiting from it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35157425 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.