Man given parking fine while in talk over wife's brain injury gets it overturned with help of Facebook campaign

 
Parking fine: Queen's Hospital, Romford Picture: Google Street View
Matt Watts29 October 2014

AN online campaign today forced the cancellation of a “heartless” hospital car park fine given to a father whose meeting with doctors over his wife’s critical brain injury overran.

Heidi Weir, of Chelmsford, created a Facebook group when Havering council in Essex refused to overturn an £80 ticket given to her father Derek when he was nine minutes late back to his car at Queen’s Hospital.

He had been talking to doctors about his wife, Natalie, 61, who was in intensive care with bleeding on the brain. On the advice of hospital staff, he appealed the fine — but he and Mrs Weir, 34, were “disgusted” to have it rejected by the council, which runs the car park, because they had not supplied sufficient evidence.

The Facebook group received 125,000 likes and 10,000 members in just a few days.

Mrs Weir, 34, hit out at the “inhumane, insensitive bureaucracy”, saying the council had only dropped the “heartless” fine because of adverse publicity. She said: “I refuse to say to a ward sister, ‘Excuse me but can you stop saving that person’s life please while you write me a letter to the council to say you called my dad into the meeting?’”

A council spokesman said: “We are cancelling the ticket and refunding the money. We’re sorry for any distress and upset caused to the family.

“We had asked for supporting evidence, which is usual practice. But we reviewed the case and concluded, given the circumstances, we could cancel the ticket without the additional evidence.”

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