Appeals Desk

A parking charge from the hospital car park

Nobody parks at a hospital for fun. You were at an appointment that ran over, sitting with someone, or coming off a shift — and the charge landed anyway, usually because a keypad took the wrong registration or because nobody can predict how long a hospital keeps you. Two things are worth knowing before you write: what the NHS's own guidance says trusts should do about charges like yours, and what the parking industry's code says about the minutes either side of your stay.

What this is called on your notice
hospital car park charge — patient, visitor or staff

Phrases to look for on your letter: “exceeded maximum stay” · “no valid payment” · “incorrect vehicle registration entered”

Why this is an appealable position

Two separate rulebooks touch a hospital charge. The first is NHS car parking guidance 2022 for NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts, published by the Department of Health and Social Care and last updated 29 March 2022. It says in terms that "additional charges should only be imposed where reasonable and should be waived when overstaying is beyond the driver's control", giving treatment taking longer than planned and staff working beyond a scheduled shift as its own examples. It also sets out groups who should get free parking — Blue Badge holders attending as patients or visitors, outpatients attending at least three times in a month over at least three months, parents or guardians of an under-18 inpatient overnight, and staff on qualifying night shifts — and it makes NHS organisations "responsible for the actions of private contractors who run car parks on their behalf". Be precise about what those free-parking groups are: the guidance calls them concessions, and says they are "voluntary but all trusts should implement them wherever possible" — so they are something to ask the trust for, not an entitlement to assert against the parking company. Read the whole document that way: the guidance is addressed to the NHS body and is required of trusts through the NHS Standard Contract, not imposed directly on the parking company. That is why the trust's own PALS or car parking office is a route worth using alongside the operator's appeal, not instead of it. The second rulebook is the industry's Private Parking Sector Single Code of Practice, version 1.1, in effect 17 February 2025, which requires a consideration period on arrival to read and decide on the terms and a grace period in addition to the parking period — a minimum of 10 minutes under its Annex B for car parks permitting more than 30 minutes. On the keypad and registration point, the ordinary evidence argument applies: where the stay was paid or registered and the only defect is the characters typed into a machine in a hospital foyer, the dispute is about the operator's records rather than about whether you parked as the terms permitted — so the evidence you attach is what does the work.

The clause to put in the letter

Name the paragraph, not just the rulebook. An operator answering "the Code requires a grace period" can wave it away; an operator answering its own clause number, quoted back at it, has to deal with what the clause says.

Code of Practice v1.1 §3.1.1: An entrance sign must be displayed and maintained at the entrance to controlled land to inform drivers as appropriate whether parking is permitted subject to terms and conditions, including payment, or is prohibited (Signs, page 9 of 57; read at source 2026-09-05)

Code of Practice v1.1 §8.4.4: In considering appeals, parking operators must consider mitigating circumstances in accordance with Annex F. (Process for appealing a parking charge, page 23 of 57; read at source 2026-09-05)

Your position is strongest when

Honest caveat: this argument is weaker when — you have no payment record and no appointment or shift evidence; the charge is from a site with no nhs involvement at all — a nearby private car park rather than the hospital's own.

Evidence to gather now

Your first move

Appeal to the operator inside its window as the registered keeper, attaching the appointment or shift evidence and any payment record, and say plainly why the overstay was outside your control. Then, separately and at the same time, email the hospital trust's PALS or car parking office with the same evidence and the charge reference — the trust is the party the NHS guidance is actually addressed to, and it is the party responsible for its contractor.

Not sure yet? Check whether you'll lose your discount first — free

Build my appeal letter, free

Answer 8 questions about what happened and get a ready-to-send appeal letter in minutes. It costs nothing, and you can download it.

The one thing on this site you can pay for is one operator’s full POPLA record, £20 once: three years of that company’s appendix rows, the grounds and the clause of its own rulebook that answers each one, its own published route and your clock. See what is in it, free. You never need it to appeal.

Common questions

My appointment overran and I got charged. Doesn't the NHS have rules about that?

It has guidance, and it is worth quoting. NHS car parking guidance 2022 for NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts says additional charges "should only be imposed where reasonable and should be waived when overstaying is beyond the driver's control", and names treatment taking longer than planned as an example. It is guidance to NHS bodies rather than a rule binding the parking company directly — the guidance makes NHS organisations responsible for the actions of private contractors running their car parks — so send it to the trust as well as appealing to the operator.

I typed my registration wrong on the foyer keypad. Do I have to pay?

Appeal it rather than pay it. Where a session was paid or registered and the only problem is the characters entered, the dispute is about the operator's records rather than about whether you complied — so attach the payment evidence, state the exact times, and ask the operator to produce its own record for that terminal at that minute. Do not assume the size of the typing error decides it: put the evidence in and let the operator answer it.

I have a Blue Badge and was at the hospital as a patient. Should I have been charged at all?

The NHS car parking guidance 2022 lists free parking for a holder of a valid Blue Badge attending hospital as a patient or visitor, and for a disabled person employed by the trust. That is guidance to the trust, required of it through the NHS Standard Contract, rather than something the parking operator owes you directly — so raise it with the hospital's car parking office or PALS while you appeal to the operator, and send both of them a copy of the badge.

Who issued your ticket?

Private operators and councils run entirely different appeal routes. Find your operator to see whether your independent appeal goes to POPLA or the IAS — or read the council PCN route if your letter says “Penalty Charge Notice”.

Still deciding whether it is worth it?

The question underneath this one is usually about money, not law: if I appeal and lose, does it cost me more than paying today? Check whether appealing puts your discount at risk — free, with the rule quoted from the code that applies to your issuer, and the published odds at independent appeal.

Where these rules come from: Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4 (keeper liability; the notice deadlines are its paragraphs 8 and 9) · British Parking Association · International Parking Community.

Independent information, not legal advice. You can always appeal free yourself: first to the issuer, then to the independent service for your route. No outcome is guaranteed.

Your words, in a box, read by a person. We ask for no name and no email.