Queen Alexandra Hospital apologises and promises refunds to visitors incorrectly slapped with parking fines over two and a half month period

Numerous visitors - including disabled people with a Blue Badge - were left outraged when they received unwarranted Parking Charge Notices (PCN) after using the hospital car park between September 1 and November 15. It means Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust is facing a substantial outlay to pay back all those impacted during the two and a half months the issue lasted.

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Residents said they were issued with fines of £60, or £100 by car park operator Parkshield Collection if they missed the first deadline to pay the fine - with some people reporting they did not receive the fine until after the deadline to pay the lower amount had passed.

QA did not specify what the problem was in its statement to The News, though the trust stated the issue had been “identified and steps are being taken to stop this happening again”. However, an email from a member of the trust's board to a disgruntled visitor, seen by The News, said: “I can confirm that the trust’s car parking office has identified an issue with the third party provider’s system.” Meanwhile, a visitor who contacted Parkshield said the car park operator had pointed the finger at QA for the issue.

Patients impacted have told The News of their ordeals. Former governor of the hospital between 2008-10 Martin Marks OBE, who visited the hospital on September 6, said: “I parked at QA and had problems with the card payment machine. When I checked my bank account I found it had not gone through and phoned the parking contact number. Not to worry I was told we can sort it out.

“On December 1, I received by mail a Parking Charge Notice with a payment slip notice issue date of September 6 in one place and an issue date November 16 in another. It allows the £100 payment to be reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days – conveniently just expired on receipt. When I tried to pay online the £100 was produced.”

He added: “(The) incident I experienced suggests things may be out of control at QA. This will not reflect well on the hospital by patients or visitors if this is an ongoing activity rather than a one-off error.”

Blue Badge holder Marian Rooney said: “I just received a £60 parking fine from September 8. This is despite having registered my Blue Badge with QA Hospital main reception for full exemption from parking charges.

“I have appealed but am expecting around 30 more fines as my husband is a regular attendee and was hospitalised for around seven days with me visiting twice a day during that period alone.

“I am told a ‘system glitch’ resulted in two months worth of disabled exemption registrations being deleted. This means there are many out there who will have their Christmas spoiled as their fines arrive. It will also be a continuing problem with each fine having to be contested separately. In my case it will bring a lot of ongoing stress that is not good for my multiple heart conditions.”

Another victim was Alan Joyner who was issued a PCN on September 11. He said: “There was a massive queue of people trying to pay but the machines were faulty and the car parking agent advised via the intercom system that we could leave with no payment and needed to get out within 15 minutes. We did this but have received a PCN as have many others.

“This date was one of several in our case from September to the end of November, where we had the same problem and therefore I expect further unwarranted PCN’s and there will probably be hundreds more people affected.

“As the timescale to pay the reduced fee had passed by the time the letter arrived I suspect many people paid simply to avoid higher charges or court action. The letter in my instance was dated November 16 and was received on December 2.”

He added: “I have been in contact with the parking company and they advised the pay machines are QA’s responsibility and they should have advised the parking company of these issues and therefore avoided PCN’s being issued. This apparently did not happen. My concern is also that people's private information has been accessed in my opinion without reasonable cause owing to a failure of the hospital to have robust systems in place.”

A spokesperson for Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, said, “On Monday December 5 we were made aware that Penalty Charge Notices were incorrectly issued to some people who parked at the Queen Alexandra Hospital site between September 1 and November 15. The issues that led to this have been identified and steps are being taken to stop this happening again.

“As soon as we were made aware, we contacted the third-party provider that manages our on-site parking and instructed them to cancel all penalty charge notices issued within this period. Anyone who has already paid will be refunded. We apologise to anyone affected by this and thank them for bringing it to our attention.”

The hospital said if people have any questions about the fine they have received or want to confirm it has been cancelled, they should contact Parkshield directly using the information on the penalty charge notice. Individuals affected will receive a letter informing them their notice has been cancelled from Parkshield.

All Blue Badge Holders and people with concession slips using the QA Hospital site are advised to go to the main reception of the hospital on their next visit to confirm their pass has been revalidated.