Author Topic: Halton Hospital bosses face grilling over Highview Parking debacle  (Read 2211 times)

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Offline Ewan Hoosami

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Halton Hospital parking fine system compared to work of 'dodgy landlords and car salesmen'


Mel Pickup and Steve McGuirk, chief executive and chairman of Warrington And Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, faced a grilling at Runcorn Town Hall last night.


Hospital bosses faced a terse grilling from councillors on Tuesday night at Runcorn Town Hall over the car parking situation in Halton and Warrington.

Mel Pickup and Steve McGuirk, chief executive and chairman of Warrington And Halton Hospitals NHS Trust (WHHT), faced calls from Halton Borough Council’s health policy and performance board for the contract with Highview Parking to be scrapped and motorists to be refunded cash they have coughed up in fixed penalty notices.

Mr McGuirk said they could not cancel the contract without showing Highview had done ‘something wrong’ and that bosses were awaiting the findings of a British Parking Association (Ltd, don't forget the Ltd) investigation.  :rotfl: This idiot is going to wait for the BPA Ltd to decide whether it's member has done 'something wrong'? I wonder how that's going to pan out? <Whistle> :rotfl:

He said the trust faced a ‘serious financial deficit’.

Although he insisted that signage at the hospital sites had been ‘compliant’ with the law, he conceded that it had ‘not been helpful’.

Refunds could not be given also because spending public cash in such a way would need wrongdoing to be proven. (by the BPA Ltd) :rotfl:

The pair endured a litany of complaints from the board.

Leading the attack was Cllr Dave Thompson, Halton Lea ward, who said Halton Citizens Advice Bureau was ‘normally dealing with dodgy landlords and car salesmen but is now dealing with the hospital all the time’. (Well managed parking, the gift that just keeps on giving)

He also slated the firm and hospital for not having planning permission to install neither the parking notice system nor the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras. The claim was backed by Halton Council planning officers. (I'll bet it won't be backed by the BPA Ltd)

Cllr Thompson also heaped scorn on the idea that there was adequate signage to constitute a binding legal contract.

Mr McGuirk and Mrs Pickup said the cameras had been installed based on plans that from the 1970s that indicated the land involved was owned by the hospital.

Cllr Mark Dennett, Grange, said he was concerned about Mr McGuirk’s comments about the trust’s ‘deficit’.

He said: “That kind of language, when you start talking about deficits, it makes me think that’s the reason the fines are so high.

“You want to help your deficit.”

UPDATE 3pm - Cllr Dave Thompson has now confirmed that one of the vehicles to receive a fixed penalty notice was a North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) patient transport car.

A statement from NWAS said: "The vehicle concerned was not a front line paramedic emergency Service ambulance, but was an estate car operating within our patient transport service fleet.

"This car was being used to convey patients to and from outpatient appointments at Warrington Hospital.

"This vehicle has the North West Ambulance Service logo on the side which was visible on the photograph enclosed with the notice."

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/halton-hospital-parking-fine-system-9748881

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"Everyone* benefits from well managed parking" - The BPA Ltd

* Everyone in the parking industry
Appealing to the council is like playing chess with a pigeon. You might be a chess grand master but the pigeon will always knock all the pieces over, shit on the board and then strut around triumphantly.

Offline The Bald Eagle

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Re: Halton Hospital bosses face grilling over Highview Parking debacle
« Reply #1 on: 30 July, 2015, 12:36:20 PM »
There's more.

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http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/13506631.Hospital_chiefs_grilled_over_parking_charges/?ref=twtrec

Hospital chiefs grilled over parking charges



 HOSPITAL chiefs summoned to Runcorn Town Hall after 4,229 parking penalties were issued to patients and visitors in just three months were bombarded with complaints last night.

The meeting was arranged after the DVLA suspended Highview Parking from collecting data from drivers at Halton Hospital after a Runcorn woman, who had not even parked at the hospital, received a penalty notice.

Mel Pickup, chief executive of Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and chairman Steve McGuirk were grilled by disgruntled councillors at a special meeting of Halton Council’s health and policy performance board last night.

Members called for parking penalties to be refunded to drivers and the contract with Highview Parking to be scrapped.

Hospital bosses declined their requests saying they were waiting for the results of a British Parking Association investigation.

They said they could not reimburse motorists because it was public money.

Halton Cllr Dave Thompson branded the charges a ‘sick tax’ levied on the ‘most vulnerable, frail, elderly and ill patients’.

He showed photographs at the meeting revealing that 60 per cent of Halton Hospital does not have parking signs, meaning there is no contract, invalidating any charges. Of course the BPA Ltd's (don't forget the Ltd) audit records will clearly demonstrate that 100% coverage was there when they inspected won't it? Otherwise it would mean the BPA Ltd would have to admit that it doesn't properly monitor its operators. :o

Halton Council planning and highways officers reported that the hospital does not have planning permission for car park signs or cameras.

Cllr Thompson said: “Our highways and planning chiefs told them they are filming on our highways.

“They have no planning permission for cameras and no consent for signs.

“The hospital has been let down by a contractor who does not comply to national standards.

“They are repeatedly going against rules.”

He said he was appalled when trust chairman Steve McGuirk claimed that the 25 per cent success rate for appeals was good.

Cllr Thompson added: “To get 25 per cent of errors is appallingly high.

“Patients who are disabled, elderly and frail and have done nothing wrong can take months to clear their name.

“The hospital must take steps to resolve this and repay innocent people.”

Hospital governor Peter Lloyd Jones added he was also alarmed by the high rate of successful appeals.

He said: “The chairman said this shows the system works but I believe every complaint is a failure.

“What bothers me is that this problem is getting more toxic for them.”

He said he had raised his concerns at board meetings but hospital chiefs had failed to listen to him.

Mr Lloyd Jones added: “They need to identify the entire problem and all its causes. At the moment they are approaching it piecemeal.

 “One of the biggest problems not yet addressed is the operator.”

Warrington Hospital has been asked for a comment.

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