A man has been slapped with a parking fine after passing out during a hospital appointment. Martin Wallbanks paid for three hours of parking head of his 40 minute appointment at Royal Stoke.
But the 52-year-old lorry driver collapsed meaning that he had to stay in for observation. He overstayed his parking duration and has since been fined for doing so.
His partner Claire Sparkes, 50, appealed the charge but Bank Park Management - which operates the private Hilton Road Car Park - has refused to back down. This is despite a nurse sending an email to back their claim, StokeonTrentLive reports.
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Claire said: "It's a massive blow. He's been through horrendous trauma with his health which is still ongoing. To have this on top of it as well. It’s disgusting not waiving the fine. People need to be aware that this happens.
"The appointment should have been 40 minutes but he passed out and ended up having to go into recovery. He had to be monitored, his heartrate dropped massively. It was on my mind thinking about the parking but it was over a 20-minute walk away and I didn't want to leave him."
She continued: "I took an email from one of the nurses just in case we needed evidence if we got a fine. We appealed it, but it got rejected. Then we went through the independent appeal process. I attached the email from the nurse where she wrote that he had passed out at the appointment and that he needed to be monitored.
"We got an email saying it had been dismissed and we have to pay the fine. There was no reference to the email from the nurse. It was just a standard email."
Bank Park Management declined to comment on Martin's case.
