Nurse Given Parking Fine While Distributing Vaccine
Parking company rejects appeal despite being notified of reason for visit
Greystoke Lodge. Picture: Google Streetview
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A nurse visiting an elderly patient to administer a Covid-19 vaccine in Ealing has been fined by a private parking company.
Elizabeth Hamerton, who works at the Pitshanger Family Practice, parked for 15 minutes in the car park in front of Greystoke Lodge on 28 January. Despite her NHS photo ID being displayed as well as a notice in the car window indicating that she was there for the care of a resident, she received a parking fine.
The visit was made because the patient was unable to attend a vaccination centre due to her current health issues.
Private Parking Solutions Ltd refused to rescind the ticket which acts on behalf of the Greystoke Estate Management Company even though it was informed of the circumstances.
Elizabeth’s husband Ian said, “My wife has worked continuously for the last twelve months only taking leave on the insistence of her manager. She has face-to-face contact with all her patients, unlike many other practitioners in General Practice. It seems to me totally unfair that our reasonable request for this fine to be rescinded be granted. Her NHS photo ID was clearly visible through the windscreen and is shown on the photographs taken by whoever placed the parking ticket.
"The only excuse given for maintaining the fine is that she did not have prior permission to park there. Although it is not clear how this should be obtained or indeed why it should be necessary under the current circumstances. In order to obtain such a permission slip it would probably have been necessary to divulge the identity, and probably the medical circumstances, of the patient. It seems to me this would have been a breach of Caldicott Regulations.”
Local MP James Murray has promised to intervene but warned that he has had little success with similar cases involving private parking companies.
Information available at Companies House suggest that Private Parking Solutions Ltd has one employee and its only director is listed as Jakub Gajewski. We approached it for comment on the fine given to Mrs Hamerton but have not received a response.
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March 11, 2021
