Portsmouth politicians slam parking fines 'fleecing' patients at Queen Alexandra Hospital

Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham was funded through a 32-year private finance initiative (PFI) – which will cost more than £1.7bn.

As part of the PFI, services such as cleaning, pest control and car parking were managed by Carillion. When the firm went into liquidation in 2018, Engie stepped in to provide the services instead.

Engie’s tenure in charge has seen Parkshield Collections Ltd brought on board to tackle car parking, but many patients have complained about the gung-ho approach.

As reported in today’s Streetwise feature, hospital patients who have either had tickets fall off their dashboard, or had their ticket slightly obscured by their windscreen, have been slapped with £100 fines.

This has been followed up with harassment and threats of legal action, with many patients describing their experiences as disgraceful, or profiteering.

Now, politicians are calling for Engie to bring the parking fines back in line.

Leader of Portsmouth City Council, Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, says if he had his way, the PFI wouldn’t exist at all.

He said: ‘PFIs have been discredited as being bad for the taxpayer, and so it’s up to the government to step in and handle it.

‘The sole purpose of this system is to make money. This is a hospital, people are meant to feel cared for from the moment they park their car.

‘Instead, they are being unfairly fleeced for cash by a private company that shouldn’t even be involved in the process.’

Tony Chipps saw his terminally ill mother hit with a £150 fine after her appointment overran.

SEE ALSO: 'Crippling' bill for Queen Alexandra Hospital's £1bn PFI rebuild jumps an extra £700m

When he informed Parkshield of her death, the firm passed her fine down to him.

After Carillion collapsed, a new 22-year deal was agreed with Engie, which is set to cost a further £1.3bn.

Healthwatch Portsmouth’s chairman Roger Batterbury said he understands that the fines imposed by Parkshield seem very unfair, given the circumstances.

A spokeswoman for the group – which gives feedback to local health services – said: ‘Healthwatch Portsmouth hears feedback from patients who say that finding parking spaces at QA Hospital is stressful which adds to the anxiety that people feel when attending hospital to receive care for long term conditions or visit terminally ill loved ones.

‘We would ask that the decisions taken in these cases are re-considered, some leniency used and the fines rescinded.’

Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt has been critical of PFI schemes in the past.

Following an investigation by The News into QA Hospital’s PFI last year, she said: ‘The campaign I ran with Jesse Norman highlighted the disaster of Labour’s scheme, which saddled our public services with off-balance-sheet debt, debts which were then often sold on to other companies.’

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