An ambulance driver was ticketed by callous car park staff at Ninewells while trying to organise transport for a terminally ill patient.
Robin Yule has been forced to fork out £100 to Indigo – the private company who run the hospital car park – after they instructed debt collectors to chase him up.
Mr Yule, who has given more than three decades of his life to helping others as a member of the Scottish Ambulance Service, had driven to Ninewells to work out the logistics of transporting a terminally ill patient who wanted the “dignity” of living out the remainder of their life in the comfort of their own home.
He had taken an unmarked pool car from his offices on School Road to the hospital and, he said, parked in an “ambulance only” bay – it being common practice for staff to so do.
Robin returned to his vehicle – having helped organise the tragic patients’ transport with the dignity they deserve – and headed back to the Dundee headquarters without a ticket.
It was only a few weeks later that he received notification of a fine.
“This all started on May 28, when I had parked in one of the ambulance bays at Ninewells to organise a patient transfer,” he said.
“I had been asked to go down to help out a patient who was terminally ill and required a special bariatric transport to get home.
“At the time, I used one of the registered pool cars – a white Honda CRV – which although it doesn’t have any obvious Scottish Ambulance Service markings, still has blue lights.
“When I came back to the car, having helped organise for the patient to have a little bit of dignity at home, there wasn’t any ticket on the windscreen.
He continued: “A few weeks later, a fine is sent to the office coinciding with when I used the car.
“I tried to appeal the fine, using all the appropriate channels and was sent an email saying I had no option but to pay it.
“The debt enforcement agency, ZZPS, escalated the fine because of the amount of time which has since past, to £100.
“I didn’t want any court action or to have debt collectors chasing me further, so I have paid it.
“I am so angry and just disgusted it has been allowed to go this far.”
Mr Yule tried to appeal the fine in the first instance, writing to ZZPS – the debt recovery agency tasked with sending letters threatening court action if fines go unpaid – to explain what had happened.
He was responded to via an email stating: “As this site is private land you must adhere to the terms and conditions of the site if you wish to utilise the facility.
“Please note that as you were the driver you had 28 days to appeal from the date of the contravention, as such, the time frame for submitting an appeal has now lapsed.
“Our client feels there is sufficient evidence to pursue this PCN and have maintained their instruction to recover the outstanding balance. If the account remains unresolved, it will progress to debt recovery.”
Car park operators Indigo were approached for comment but failed to respond at the time of going to print.
North East Scottish Conservative MSP Bill Bowman said: “This is an appalling situation for Mr Yule, and anyone involved in chasing him for money must be mortified.
“We’re now at the stage of asking medical professionals to get other medics to validate their parking.
“As I’ve said many times, the parking status quo at Ninewells is not working.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “The member of staff in question was on duty helping a patient when he parked an unmarked service vehicle in a space reserved for ambulances and service vehicles.
“In a rush, he unfortunately forgot to place an exemption sign on the dashboard and the vehicle subsequently acquired a fine. We are disappointed by the parking company’s decision and we will be taking this matter up with them.”
