Man with brain injury “outraged and stressed” at false £100 parking fine at Queen Alexandra Hospital

Kevin Allen, of Gosport, was handed a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) from Private Car Parking Enforcement Agency (PCPEA) after they alleged the 57-year-old failed to stump up £2 for parking on January 23.

Luckily Kevin was able to prove he had paid thanks to his online bank statement but remains furious at the “disgraceful” and “unforgivable” situation. It follows an apology from the hospital in December after numerous people who used the car park between September 1 and November 15 were angered when they were also falsely handed tickets after a fault.

Kevin, speaking of his ordeal, said: “I am both outraged and stressed. I was attending QA for treatment following a brain injury and the stress and anxiety this caused is unforgivable. Luckily I had proof of payment on my bank card and the PCN was cancelled without even an apology.”

In an email to the hospital and parking company, Kevin added: “I don't care who was at fault. You both should understand the upset this can cause and the amount of stress this puts on innocent people.

“I would like to know what would have happened if I did not have payment proof and how many PCNs have had to be paid because of this? I am sure you are going to reassure me that this is not the case but I trust that as much as the accuracy of the data you both use.”

Mark Orchard, chief financial officer at Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, said, “We are aware that due to an administrative error, a small number of parking tickets were issued due to details not being correctly added to the system. We have taken steps to work with the teams involved to rectify this error and apologise to anyone affected.”

A spokesperson for the hospital said in December: “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.”