Colchester pensioner had £70 primary care centre parking fines

The primary care centre, which is part of the Colchester Hospital complex, charges a standard tariff for parking – but some patients have been asked to cough up as much as £35 in parking charges, despite the fact there were no directions for patients on how to pay for parking.

Graham Leuner, 71, visited the primary care centre on two occasions so specialists could treat a hearing problem, but is now facing a £70 fine for not having paid the parking tariff.

Mr Leuner said not only were there no signs in the car park instructing drivers to pay, he added that a member of staff at the care centre said signs have been put up since patients complained to reception.

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He said: “There was no signage at the car park at all, and in fact there were two or three other guys asked me other there was free parking – I said that as far as I know, there is.

“There were no signs to say ‘go and buy a ticket at the office’ or anything.

“A friend of ours is a nursing assistant who often has calls to go there – she said nowhere were there any signs to say it was a paying parking area.”

And Mr Leuner said that having recently returned to the primary care centre, which now has signs instructing drivers to pay, a member of staff told him plenty of patients had the same issue.

But many patients are still left facing the fines, even if the lack of signage has been rectified.

In response to the complaint, Fiona Sparrow, ESNEFT’s associate director of facilities, has encouraged Mr Leuner to get in touch with them.

She said: “ESNEFT has an appeal process in place for anyone who feels they have received a fine in error in our car parks – our travel team is here to help, and they are very happy to listen to appeals.”

ESNEFT’s travel team at Colchester is contactable on via travel.plan@esneft.nhs.uk, or 01206 742275.