A Broughty Ferry dad has struck a blow against the “pettifogging bureaucracy” of the Ninewells Hospital car park operators.
When Chris Phin returned to his car last month after a worrying trip to the hospital with his sick daughter, he was dismayed to have a bad day made even worse by being given a parking ticket.
Amid the stress of following behind an ambulance carrying his two-year-old daughter, he hadn’t noticed that the area he parked in near the children’s ward was for staff only.
However, Chris’ reaction to being fined was different to the rest of us. Rather than jump up and down with rage, he accepted his punishment but also put his thoughts down in writing — and produced an erudite put-down of parking rules he says are “applied with an unbending zeal that is both dehumanising and distasteful”.
Chris, who works in magazine publishing in Dundee, said he wanted to avoid the “hassle” of contesting the £20 charge as he suspected trying to appeal to car park operator Indigo Park Services’ better nature would be a waste of time.
Chris duly sent his payment — but made his feelings abundantly clear in a stinging letter that was widely hailed after it was shared online.
The letter reads:
Please find enclosed payment for PCN XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.
I would like to have applied for leniency, but I’ve learned from the very few occasions where I’ve done so in the past that parking rules are applied with an unbending zeal that is both dehumanising and distasteful.
But I was, you are quite right, parked in the wrong place; I was parked in a staff car park rather than a public car park. And I’m not challenging the PCN because on checking again this fact is indeed flagged with a small notice at the entrance.
You – or NHS Tayside, or whoever is responsible for administering the parking around Ninewells – ought to recognise and act on two things, however.
The first is that you are by definition dealing with people at a time of high stress, who are concerned with the wellbeing of their loved ones and so perhaps not as attentive as they would ordinarily be; I, for example, had just followed an ambulance to the hospital which contained my two year-old daughter who was suffering from respiratory distress.
And the second is that in this particular instance, and given the above, it’s not at all sufficiently clear that the car parking spaces adjacent to the children’s ward are split into two sections. The sign at the entrance to the staff-only area, and the divide between the two – a line of kerb stones a couple of inches high – is far too easy to miss.
I suggest using fines such as mine to at least fund the erection of ‘Staff parking only’ signs at each parking bay, as well as a barrier to make it clearer that there are indeed two distinct parking areas at this spot – and then conducting a review to see if there are similar possibilities for confusion in other areas, after which similar action can be taken. Better still, implement a system of passes for staff car parks so that the public cannot inadvertently park in areas they are not permitted to.
I will close in expressing my frustration at a practice which, if not actually designed to be predatory, nevertheless feels predatory. I had paid for my parking – indeed, over the course of my daughter’s admission, I paid quite a large sum of money for my parking – and my ticket (for the adjacent public car park) was clearly displayed, but the lack of clarity when I was distracted and worried meant I was punished regardless. Almost the last thing you want when returning to your car when one of your loved ones is unwell is to find some pettifogging bureaucrat has fined you for breaking not the spirit but the letter of the law, and it added undue distress to an already distressing time.
When contacted by The Courier, Indigo said it will review the signs — and will donate Chris’ charge to a charity of his choice.
A spokesman said: “The signage at Ninewells is fully compliant with the British Parking Association (BPA) Approved Operators Scheme, and Sherriff Drummond has also confirmed the signage is compliant with legal standards.
“However, we will raise the matter with NHS Tayside and see if additional signage can be added in this particular area.
“We will always take action against public vehicles using staff spaces, and anyone who receives a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) should contact us at the earliest opportunity so we can consider the circumstances.
“In this case, we appreciate it was an honest mistake made under stressful circumstances, so on this occasion we will donate the payment Parking Charge Notice to a charity of Chris’ choice as a gesture of goodwill.”
A spokesman for NHS Tayside added: “We welcome feedback on car parking at Ninewells. We work closely with Indigo and have ongoing discussions about how to improve the service, including signage on the site.”
Ninewells is one of only three Scottish hospitals where staff, patients and visitors have to pay for parking. Health secretary Shona Robison has repeatedly said while she would like to introduce free parking at Ninewells, the cost of ending the PFI contract is too prohibitive.
Nevertheless, Chris hopes his voice will help to put more pressure on the authorities to give Ninewells patients, staff and visitors a fairer deal.
At the very least, he says, some of the parking money taken from motorists should be used to improve the advice to drivers so innocent mistakes don’t happen while people’s minds are on far more important things — like the health of loved ones.
And on that subject, the news for the Phins is much more positive. After a few days of treatment for a respiratory condition, Chris’ daughter is now fully recovered.
