Bristol cancer patient's parking reprieve

A single mum from Bristol has been promised a full refund after she was given a parking fine while having chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Allison Veale, 42, who lives in Kingswood, paid £3 for a 45-minute ticket at Bristol Oncology Centre's car park in Kingsdown.

But the 30-minute procedure overran as doctors took four attempts to insert a line into her arm.

When she finally came out at 11am, she found a £60 fine on the windscreen, put there at 10.08am – 23 minutes after the ticket expired.

The family paid the fine on the same day, cutting the cost to £30, but they are furious it was given in the first place and have appealed.

The NHS trust which owns the car park has now promised a full refund.

Allison, who is a full-time mum to Byron, 11, said: "I think it is disgusting. When you are going to hospital for cancer treatment you don't want any extra worries, just to get it done and go home to bed.

"The last thing I had on my mind was the car. I was so worried about having the procedure that I put £3 in and thought it would cover it.

"That would pay for a couple of hours at Frenchay Hospital. I was furious when I saw the fine."

Allison is worried about future costs. She said: "I can't afford £60 as a single mum. I had to go back for chemotherapy the following day and put in £5, which is a lot of money every time. I have to go every three weeks, and in December will have to have radium every day. It will cost me a fortune.

"I feel like writing a sign and putting it in the window next time – 'having chemotherapy, please understand'. It is appalling, really."

Allison's mum, Caroline, 67, said: "It is disgusting that we have to pay for parking. They know that people are there for cancer treatment. I don't know how they can sleep at night."

Allison's call for a refund was backed by Duleep Allirajah, policy manager for macmillan.org.uk" target=new rel="nofollow">Macmillan Cancer Support. He said: "They shouldn't have been charged in the first place, and the hospital should have a policy in place that gives regular visitors for cancer or radiotherapy reduced parking charges, in accordance with Department of Health guidelines.

"We believe patients undergoing treatment for cancer should be exempt from all hospital parking charges.

"An average cancer patient spends over £300 a year paying hospital parking fees – an extra cost they can ill afford as they cope with the stress of cancer. It is basically a tax on illness."

Adrian Ruck, spokesman for University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, which owns the car park, said: "We are sorry to learn that Allison Veale was upset by the parking ticket she received after a visit to our hospital.

"At our city centre site it is vitally important that we manage our parking to ensure that only patients are offered the use of our facilities.

"As with all cases like this, Allison will be fully refunded and we apologise for any inconvenience.

"For those of our patients who need to return frequently for treatment, we keep parking charges at a minimum.

"Patients only pay for the first hour of parking, which is then free for the rest of the week."

At UHBristol, patients who are regularly spending a lot of time in hospital can buy a ticket that will enable them to park for up to a week for the price of the lowest standard fee.

The patient or driver can swap their £2.20 ticket for the long-term parking pass on their ward.

At North Bristol NHS Trust there is no scheme in place for patients coming in for regular treatment, but they are advised to speak to a nurse in their ward or unit, who may be able to make arrangements with the on-site parking services team.

Free hospital parking was brought in at Welsh hospitals in April this year and last month the Scottish parliament made the decision to bring in free parking from January 1.