Hospitalized woman hit with parking tickets despite permit

Kate Matthews, 36, has been at Hull Royal Infirmary since March after being admitted with suspected intestinal failure and suffering complications her father says could have killed her several times.

But when her family challenged operator APCOA, it refused to discuss the notices because Kate was the car's registered keeper - even though her dad says she was not driving and they had receipts proving payment.

The initial parking charge was £60 ($80), which would have been reduced to £30 ($40) if paid within 14 days - and a debt collection notice demanded £130 ($175) for each alleged breach.

Her father David, 67, said: "Our entire family life has been put on hold for the best part of a year and you just don't need anyone ruining it any further.

"It's difficult not to be very, very angry."

David said the family were already paying £7.20 ($9.60) a week for a permit for two vehicles.

The retired architect, from Elloughton, East Yorkshire, said letters had piled up at Kate's home because she was too ill to deal with them.

When the family discovered the first notice in July, David's wife found the receipt showing the weekly permit had been paid.

He said the family had receipts covering every date a notice was issued.

But APCOA said it would deal only with Kate because she was named on the V5 registration document.

David said: "They hid behind GDPR and said they could only speak to Kate.

"What they were saying was utter nonsense. They were just hiding behind it."

He said Kate had neither driven the car nor paid for the parking and was its registered keeper because of her disability-related needs.

The family initially kept the dispute from Kate while she was critically ill, but told her when her condition improved - and she was equally furious.

David said Kate was born with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, or hEDS, and has been ill with it for about a decade.

EDS is a group of inherited conditions affecting connective tissue, which supports structures including the skin, joints, blood vessels and internal organs.

Hypermobile EDS can cause loose, unstable joints and digestive problems.

David said: "It affects everything.

"It means she can dislocate her hip by doing something as simple as pressing too hard on a brake in a car."

Kate was admitted to the hospital at the end of November last year with pancolitis - inflammation of the entire colon - and sepsis.

After treatment she was discharged around Christmas, but her symptoms quickly returned.

Her consultant later arranged a planned admission and she has remained in the hospital since March.

David said: "She is a bit better now but she is still in hospital - she's no longer in life-threatening danger, but she's still very poorly.

"She keeps getting hospital-acquired infections which is making her recovery more difficult."

Kate, formerly a specialist recruitment consultant, has been unable to work for four years.

The three parking notices were issued between June 28 and Aug. 13.

David claimed staff at the hospital security office told the family that wrongly issued notices were a regular occurrence.

He said: "Most people just pay the fines because they can't find the receipts. It's a scam."

In a joint statement, NHS Humber Health Partnership and APCOA apologized for the distress caused and confirmed all the charges had been cancelled.

They said the usual appeals process had not been followed, but the family insists it did challenge the notices correctly.

But David said the hospital and APCOA have not apologized to the family directly.

He added: "My message to them would be - get your act together.

"You should not be issuing multiple tickets to people who have paid and who are doing everything right."