An OAP has spoken of her shock after she was hit with a parking fine while she was having an emergency heart procedure at Ninewells Hospital’s A&E department.
Marion Tapp, 70, said she tried to explain the situation to a parking attendant — only to be told “everybody who comes here is sick”.
The pensioner had paid for a four-hour stay after her husband was rushed to the hospital at 3am on Monday.
While she was visiting him, she took ill herself and had to stay at Ninewells until Wednesday.
Staff assured her that her parking situation would be dealt with.
However, when she was discharged she found a £20 fine had been slapped on her car.
Marion said the penalty — and the attendant’s response — had exacerbated the couple’s distress
“My husband, Paul, had been very poorly all weekend,” she said.
“He is on dialysis, has diabetes and has had a stroke and an amputation on his left leg, below the knee.
“At the weekend he had an infection on his leg. He took ill at about 3.30am on Monday and was taken to hospital under blue lights.”
Marion followed the ambulance in her own car and parked in the short stay car park.
However, as her husband was moving wards, she took ill with heart palpitations.
“I ended up in A&E and then ward 15,” she said. “They had to stop my heart and reset it with electric shocks.
“The staff said not to worry about the parking, that under the circumstances they would phone the parking operator and explain the situation.”
When she found the parking fine, Marion asked a nearby parking attendant if he could check the records so that he could see her extenuating circumstances.
She added: “He told me he wasn’t allowed to do that, but that I could pay for the full three days to avoid paying the fine.
“Even after I explained the situation, he just said ‘everybody who comes here is sick, everybody has to pay’.
“It was the way he said it, his attitude – he was really stroppy.
“I was shaken, I had just had heart surgery and could barely stand.
“I believe the hospital staff did all they could, especially given that they’re so busy, but the parking attendants should really have more training in how to deal with people.”
Marion has now appealed her fine and wants to see it overturned.
Ninewells is one of only three hospitals in Scotland where people still have to pay to park after the Scottish Government scrapped charges elsewhere.
The Dundee site, and two others in Glasgow and Edinburgh, are tied into lengthy private finance contracts agreed by the previous Labour administration and SNP ministers say it would prove too costly to get out of them.
The Ninewells car park is operated by Saba Park Solutions UK.
The company has been contacted for comment.
