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The rules for disabled parking at Chorley and Preston hospitals are so confusing and unhelpful that blue badge-holders are either getting fined or paying unnecessarily for their stay.
That is the claim from one patient who says the system in operation at the two facilities is completely at odds with the one disabled people are used to elsewhere.
Norman Dean said that the set-up also requires those with a blue badge to walk further than if a simpler arrangement was in place – defeating the object of the priority parking in the first place.
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The 85-year-old, from Whittle-le-Woods, says while he has not been caught out himself, he is aware of many others who have – and can understand why.
Blue badge-holders have enjoyed free parking at hospitals across England since 2021.
The car parks at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital and the Royal Preston are covered by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, which capture images of vehicles when they arrive. Patients and visitors enter their registration number at a payment kiosk before they leave and the machine calculates how long they have been parked and charges them accordingly. They can also use an online app.
In order to be exempt from paying, anybody with a blue badge has to register their vehicle at an office within the hospitals. They should only have to submit their details once, but Norman says many disabled and elderly people get lifts from different people from one appointment to the next – and have to present themselves at the office each time they arrive in a different vehicle from the last.
“If I couldn’t drive one day and was taken to hospital by someone and just put my card in their windscreen, they’d get a £70 fine. But that’s wrong, because a blue badge is registered to a person, not a vehicle.
“Everywhere else – in town centre car parks and on the street – I can park anywhere I want, in any car I’m in, without registering it. And as long as I put my blue badge in the window, everybody’s happy. But Preston and Chorley hospitals have different rules to the rest of the country.
“When you get your badge, you’re also given a little book that explains all the regulations about where you can park and how long you can stay. It’s very helpful, actually – but nowhere does it say the rules don’t apply at Preston or Chorley hospitals,” Norman said.
He says the distance of the registration office from some of the car parks – particularly at Chorley Hospital – as well as misleading signs, add insult to injury.
“These are disabled people who might be unable to walk far – I can’t see how [the system] makes sense to anybody. And at the Royal Preston, there is actually a sign in the disabled-only car park directing you to the payment kiosks – even though you don’t have to pay with a blue badge.
“The rules should be clearly displayed on those machines so people don’t pay when they don’t need to,” Norman added.
The LDRS approached Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust about the issues raised by Norman.
A spokesperson said the ANPR system required blue badge-holders to register, because it deals with vehicles, rather than individuals – and so cars used by anyone exempt from charges have to be removed from the list of number plates captured by the cameras. There are no routine foot patrols checking for badges displayed in windscreens.
The trust says that while only one vehicle can be registered at a time, changes to that vehicle after a person has submitted their details for the first time can be made via email – meaning repeat trips to the on-site office are not necessary. The address to register any change is [email protected]
The spokesperson added that signage will be reviewed to check for any notices that may be incorrect or unclear – and any “necessary amendments” will be made to the signage at the payment kiosks themselves.
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