Cheshire: Council gives parking fine to hospital visitor

Warrington Borough Council has issued a man with a parking fine after he parked on a stretch of road near Warrington Hospital when visiting his sick uncle.

According to the council, the area is clearly signposted, though the individual claims the area has no such warnings.

The man says that there are no visible signs on the stretch of road in question, which led to him to believe there were no restrictions (Image: Supplied)

Peter Barnes said: "When we arrived at Warrington Hospital the were no parking spaces available which is a massive problem at the hospital.

"We drove around the whole hospital three times and there were no spaces - as time went on my mum was getting more and more anxious and upset as she was desperate to know what they were going to tell us.

"We had no option but to leave the hospital grounds to find alternative parking, and my mum has disabilities so we had to park as near to the hospital as possible.

"We parked on Radnor Street which is opposite the main car park."

Peter explained: "Although we did see some signs stating no parking, we found a stretch of road with no signage stating 'no parking,' which was opposite a cafe - this made me think we were allowed to park there. 

"When we arrived back at the car, we had received Penalty Charge, although there are no signs at all on that stretch."

Peter says he returned from visiting his sick uncle and found that his car had a yellow parking ticket affixed (Image: Peter Barnes)

When asked if he appealed the council's fine, Peter said: "[They] replied saying that my appeal had been declined. Not even a sympathetic no, just a cold-hearted reply.

We were disgusted that Warrington Borough Council showed no sympathy due to extreme circumstances with my uncle, and they denied that the signs were not clear.

"We have been visiting my uncle for nearly seven weeks and never once parked on the street but this was an unprecedented emergency meeting."

Responding to the criticism, a spokesperson for Warrington Borough Council said: "Radnor Street sits within the White Cross Residential Parking Zone in Bewsey. Signs are located at all vehicular entrances and exits to and from the zone.

“The signs have been installed to adhere to Department for Transport (DfT) guidance and have been in place for over 15 years. The signs state that it is resident permit holder parking only past the point of the signs.

“Clear and appropriate signage is present upon entering the Residential Parking Zone and there are some repeater signs within the zone, however, there is no requirement to place these repeater signs on each side of the road within the zone."

Peter says that the poor parking provisions at the hospital forced him to find an alternative parking option (Image: Newsquest)

They added: “If a vehicle owner or keeper disagrees with a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) being issued, there is an appeal process they should follow.

"This includes an appeal to an independent adjudicator who can decide whether to uphold or reject the appeal, if required.

"You can find out more about parking fines and the appeal process at warrington.gov.uk/parkingfines.”