£70 penalty notice for overstaying 13 seconds
MARILYN Heald paid 50p to park for 30 minutes when she went for a simple X-ray – but it nearly cost her £70.
The retired British Airways stewardess was given a penalty for overstaying by just 13 seconds.
Mrs Heald, 69, fought the firm issuing the fine, Parking Eye, and won but remains angry about what happened at the Samuel Johnson Community Hospital in Lichfield, Staffordshire.
She said: ‘I have no problem in paying to park at the hospital. But I don’t understand why they’re using a management company who are just there to cash in.
‘I wasn’t even given a ticket so had to rely on my watch. They’re aiming to pick up on any fault and give as little information as possible to try to catch you out.’
Holly Edwards, 34, received a £100 fine for parking outside an NHS clinic even though she was having a scan at the time and was allowed to park for free.
She was confident about getting the fine – at the Harold Wood Polyclinic in Romford, east London, in June – overturned and sent Parking Eye her GP appointment note. However, the company director was shocked to get a letter back offering a reduced fine ‘as a gesture of goodwill’.
She said: ‘I’m an honest member of the public who was attending a serious health appointment. I’ve shared my proof of that to Parking Eye yet they are still trying to squeeze pennies out of me.’
Miss Edwards, from Loughton, Essex, is appealing.