A man has been hit with a parking fine after fainting during a hospital appointment. Martin Wallbanks, 52, booked three hours of parking ahead of his 40-minute stint at Royal Stoke, only to unexpectedly collapse meaning he needed more time in the hospital.
After exceeding his paid parking time due to his sudden fall, a fine was issued for overstaying. His 50-year-old partner, Claire Sparkes, appealed against the charge - but Bank Park Management, which presides over the private Hilton Road Car Park, has refused to waive the fine despite a supporting email from a nurse at the hospital.
Voicing her frustrations, 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 added: "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.", reports Birmingham Live.
"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 refused to comment on Martin's case.
