Car park fine for man who died in hospital

Jimmy Neal, a 73-year-old from At Austell in Cornwall had driven himself to A&E at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro earlier this month, suffering from a lung problem. Sadly, the problem was worse than he thought, and after 10 days in hospital, he died. His grieving family were stunned when they heard they would have to pay £148 fine to the car park operator.

His ex-wife and the mother of his children, Sharon Mountford (37), told The Cornish Guardian that she had asked a friend to visit the car park to retrieve his red Corsa, and the friend returned empty handed - explaining that she had been told she would have to pay a £12 a day fee first.

The story was shared on social media, and the car park operator agreed to release the car without charge. According to The Sun, it added: "Q-Park has worked with the hospital for many years at Truro and has a policy not to release any vehicle firstly without the owner's permission, other than when there are exceptional circumstances. We would never charge for a deceased's car to be removed from the car park." The hospital told the Daily Mail it had never had this problem before

There is some disagreement in this instance, as the car park operator insists the car wasn't released because the driver who collected it wasn't a member of the family, and they would never have charged the relative of someone who died. The family friend, meanwhile, insists that the person in the car park was adamant that she would have to pay.

Hospital changes

Hospital parking charges are an emotive subject, as while some hospitals in Scotland and Wales offer free parking, in other cases, patients and their carers end up paying through the nose for visits they cannot avoid.

A study last year revealed that 74 car parks made more than £500,000 from car parking in the previous financial year. Some 46 of them made more than £1 million. The biggest cash haul from parking that emerged in the study was the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust in Birmingham, which made just under £4 million. This was followed by the University of Leicester NHS Trust that made £3,670,907.

The hospitals argue that they don't make money - because it is all spent on running and maintaining the car parks. However, it doesn't come as much comfort to patients spending anything up to £3.50 an hour.

Macmillan Cancer Support has long been campaigning for free or reduced cost parking for cancer patients. Some hospitals do offer this, but the information is not always passed on. In fact, 90% of hospitals offer reduced price parking for some patients, so before you visit it's worth getting in touch to see whether you qualify.