Hospital parking help just the ticket

BITTER PILL: A parking charge tested a patient's patience

- By MAISHA FROST

WHEN a machine in an NHS hospital car park showed "No Charge", the car driver, who had a lot of health things on his mind, did not question it and that was the start of hassle that hasn't helped his recovery.

"I took what the machine showed at face value, it was an anxious time for me," patient Nicolas Anderson told Crusader after receiving a penalty charge notice (PCN) followed by having his appeal turned down flat.

It wasn't as if parking on that spot was new for Nicolas, who has visited the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital several times already to receive orthopaedic treatment.

By then familiar with the parking system, he had never had any trouble.