FARMER Joe Fryer was left distressed and outraged when he received a parking fine after visiting Warrington Hospital to give permission for his dying brother’s life support machine to be switched off.
Mr Fryer was particularly angry because he had gone to the trouble of paying £4 to park, covering the period he was at the hospital.
His brother John, from Great Sankey, Warrington, who had suffered with epilepsy all his life, died on March 5th aged 77 from a heart attack, after Joe had attended to make the heartbreaking decision to turn off a life support machine.
An angry and upset Joe, who owns and runs Apple Jacks Adventure farm at Stretton, Warrington, said: “It is not right that people have to pay while visiting seriously ill relatives at the hospital. We pay our taxes for the health service.”
He received his parking fine in the post 10 days after holding his dying brother in his arms at the hospital, as he was making plans for his funeral.
Fortunately he had retained the parking ticket to provide proof of payment.
He added: “There is no information on display at the hospital in any prominent position to inform anybody in a panic situation, especially when traumatised.
“I feel very angry that visitors and relatives have to face these bureaucratic obstacles when dealing with dying close relatives.”
A spokesperson for the hospital said: “Our sincere condolences to Mr Fryer and his family.
“This is so very unfortunate and not something that we would ever wish to happen to anyone, but particularly at such a distressing time.
“We do offer free parking for those supporting patients at the end of their life – the below is an extract from our website. If Mr Fryer did not inform anyone on the ward or ask for any support we would not have known to ‘whitelist’ his vehicle.
“Once again our condolences, and sincere apologies, that Mr Fryer has been troubled by this at this very sad time.”
The spokesperson said the complaint would be raised with the car parking management company Highview to ensure that the PCN is cancelled.
- Investigations revealed a O had been entered into the machine instead of a 0
*End of Life care https://whh.nhs.uk/about-us/our-hospitals/getting-warrington-hospital
Relatives who are currently visiting a patient who is receiving ‘End of Life’ care are eligible for free parking, and should ask the ward to contact the Cash Office to arrange this. Ward staff to endorse up to 3 vehicles which will then be entered onto the car parking database by the Cash Office. Please note that this doesn’t include palliative care patients.
