A patient was slapped with a £100 parking ticket after he fainted during a hospital appointment.
Martin Wallbanks, a 52-year-old lorry driver, had paid for three hours of parking before his 40-minute slot at the Royal Stoke University Hospital in Staffordshire. However, disaster struck when he collapsed and lost consciousness during his check-up, resulting in an extended stay at the Hartshill complex and consequently overstaying his parking time.
In a bid to resolve the situation, a nurse from Royal Stoke has tried to get Bank Park Management, which runs the private Hilton Road Car Park, to cancel the fine. Despite these efforts, the firm has rejected the appeal.
Martin's partner, Claire Sparkes, 50, spoke of her frustration, saying: "It's a massive blow. He's been through horrendous trauma with his health which is still ongoing. To have this on top of it as well. It's disgusting not waiving the fine. People need to be aware that this happens.
"The appointment should have been 40 minutes but he passed out and ended up having to go into recovery. He had to be monitored, his heartrate dropped massively. It was on my mind thinking about the parking but it was over a 20-minute walk away and I didn't want to leave him.
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"I took an email from one of the nurses just in case we needed evidence if we got a fine. We appealed it, but it got rejected. Then we went through the independent appeal process. I attached the email from the nurse where she wrote that he had passed out at the appointment and that he needed to be monitored.
"We got an email saying it had been dismissed and we have to pay the fine. There was no reference to the email from the nurse. It was just a standard email."
The firm has declined to comment on Martin's case, reports Stoke on Trent Live.
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