Parking inspectors - Perth in general

[FG XR]

ok here goes :

back on the 18/03/10 my wife and myself rushed our newborn baby girl to PMH (Childrens hospital) here in perth as she was having difficulties breathing due to her having mucus in her throat (She was born with a cleft lip and palate btw).

Anyway she had to stay in overnight for observation and my wife also decided to stay, i drove back home to return in the morning. The next day i got to the hospital at 9am and paid for a parking ticket across the road (there is no parking at all for this hospital only street parking or hospital parking across the road which is VERY limited as most business' in the area park their). I went up to the ward where they were keeping her when my wife told me they were going to discharge my daughter hopefully around 11:00am (my ticket expired 11:30am). Just after 11:00am the nurse told us the doctor that would be discharging my daughter was going to be running late as he had an emergency.

Anyway just to be safe i ran down stairs, across the road and purchased another ticket that would now expire at 12:30pm.

Around 12:00pm the doctor came and gave my daughter a final checkup and signed off on her discharge form and also gave her a prescription to get some medication from the hospital pharmacy downstairs. Now we went to the pharmacy and picked up her medication however this took about 20 minutes to do as the hospital was very busy (the prescription was for the hospital only otherwise i would have got it on the way home).

Got back to the car just around 12:40pm (10 minutes overtime) and my wife just finished putting our baby daughter into the car and i was putting her pram in the boot when i noticed a parking inspector looking at the front of my wifes car. I told him we were in the process of leaving and my baby daughter was just discharged from PMH after being in emergency. His reply was arrogant to say the least. "You are almost 15 minutes overtime and your car is still stationary at present so i will be issuing you a ticket". I again explained our reasons for being a little late (the carpark is a fair distance to walk as you have to walk through an underpass over a very busy city street to get to the hospital). Again he replied with "not my problem, you were over your time" gave me the $50.00 fine and walked off down the street.

:jab: Not happy! :jab:

Anyway got home and wrote a letter to city of perth to get the fine waived and attached my daughters discharge form as on the back of the fine it says the ticket can be waived for medical emergencies. Got a response today in the mail stating the fine will not be waived as being held up at the hospital was not a valid reason and the emergency happened the day before (even though she was still in the hospital emergency dpt under observation the next day!), even though i stated in my letter she was admitted to PMH emergency and attached her discharge form to prove i infact was at a hospital not just saying i was... grrr....

i was told i can either take it to court, pay the fine or get the matter reviewed by an ombudsman who will review my case and determine a final outcome. I simply do not have $50 to throw away as i have a mortgage to pay, wife is not working and with my daughters condition my money mainly goes to paying medical bills and hospital bills currently. Im not going to take it to court - waste of time and money so i am getting the matter reviewed by an ombudsman as my final hope :

Anyway these parking inspectors with no sympthoy for anyone are just bloody vultures! :

Also heard people whos cars were blocked in underground carparks in the city due to flooding after last weeks massive storm got hit with fines aswell even though they couldnt move their cars! Scum!


Sorry about the long thread just mighty peed off! :