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"Terrible access for those with mobility problems"

About: Luton & Dunstable Hospital

My wife was placed in ward 21 whilst i appreciate that not everyone can park on the doorstep i do not appreciate the over zealous tactics of UKPC your parking company. My experience was thus i arrived at the building that houses ward 21 to collect my wife after she had told me she was being discharged , my wife has disability and so naturally i parked in the drop or collect which is opposite the social club in a disabled bay in a motability Car . I made my way to the ward and after sometime i realised my wife was mistaken due to the painkiller Morphine she had been given . I made my way back to the car to move it i hadnt been that long perhaps ten minutes the lifts that are in that buildings are notoriously known for breaking down two were out of order and the time it took to get back downstairs was ridiculous i have a heart condition so did not use the stairs . On arrival back to the car i noticed the invoice from UKPC . The next day my wife was discharged and this time it was 100% fact i parked in the car park close to the building where my wife was and used a disabled bay the car displays a tax disc saying disabled our blue badge has expired and we are in the process of getting another , parking on private land in disabled bays does not have the blue badge criteria backing it up in law anyway that only applies to public car parks the fact that UKPC police your car parks mean in the eyes of the law they are not meaning anyone who reasonably considers themselves unwell or disabled may use these spaces without a blue badge and can do so legally and should not be challenged via an invoice from UKPC but hey that hasnt stopped them has it ? I wonder how many people have payed these invoices not realising this i wonder if your hospital will be willing to refund the invoices paid ? Anyway my wife and i began to make the journey back to the car we had managed to get a wheelchair and were finding the journey precarious due the speed bumps in the road and the sharp and uneven kerb drops luckily a builder who was walking behind offered to help upon returning to the car i find yet another invoice from UKPC this time this time telling me that i had not displayed the blue badge correctly our old badge was on the dash but was not in a display manner the clock being over the badge . Blue badge criteria does not apply to private land and car parks and as said the tax disc says quite clearly disabled my wife receives DLA for both mobility and care and walks slowly and in pain with a stick on this day she was in a wheelchair being helped into the car by two people , in yet when challenged the UKPC chap just shrugged his shoulders and walked off . So to add to my worry distress about my wife being ill i have two invoices from UKPC for doing nothing more than trying navigate my wife to the car park so i can take her home .

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Responses

Response from Luton & Dunstable Hospital 9 years ago
Luton & Dunstable Hospital
Submitted on 06/05/2014 at 16:13
Published on nhs.uk on 07/05/2014 at 04:00


We are very concerned to hear that your experience has been an unpleasant one. Please be assured that we will investigate this matter as much as we can from the information given. We would encourage you to contact our Patient Affairs Office directly on 01582 497 002, or email complaints.officer@ldh.nhs.uk if you would like us to address any of your concerns further.

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