Highview Parking at Warrington Hospital

The Prankster has received the following information regarding parking at Warrington Hospital from Appeal My Ticket      

Latest news about Highview Parking Ltd at Warrington Hospital & Halton Hospital

This information may be of considerable interest to people facing PCNs at Halton Hospital.

1] Halton Council has confirmed this week that the ANPR Camera operated at the Hospital Way entrance is located on adopted Council owned land, not on Hospital land.
2] Hospital Way also has adopted status as far as to extend to the main Phase 1 entrance of the hospital. In effect any enforcement on Hospital Way is being carried out on Council land.
3] The Council has given no permission for Highview Parking Limited to undertake parking control or enforcement on the Councils' land or install ANPR on Council land.

These three  matters could have serious consequences for the Trust and Highview Parking but most importantly for motorists you if you have had a PCN. The surveillance coverage of the camera at the Hospital Way entrance is capturing images of drivers on the adopted highway and the value of the images to prove you were on Hospital land is now open to question. This also means that if your car was pictured on Hospital Way the parking company have retrieved personal data on you doing no more than lawfully driving on the highway. For all Highview knows you were simply parked in Hospital Way and you did not overstay at all.

Guidance in Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012: Recovery of Unpaid Parking Charge, Section 4.1 states, ‘The provisions in Schedule 4 are intended to apply only on private land in England and Wales. Public highways are excluded as well as any parking places on public land which are either provided or controlled by a local authority (or other government body)’. In other words Highview have absolutely no rights to issue PCNs if you were on Council owned adopted highway.

The BPA Approved Operator Scheme ‘Code of Practice Control and enforcement of parking on private land and unregulated public car parks’ Version 4 – February 2014. Section 7.1 of the Code of Practice requires landowners consent and it is now evident that Highview Parking do not have Halton Council’s permission to undertake parking enforcement on those areas of hospital grounds for which the Council is responsible or to photograph vehicles on the public highway. We must all await to see how the Trust reacts to this information but it must seriously undermine the issuing of PCNs at Halton Hospital.

Prankster Note

The Prankster awaits with interest to find out the result of ongoing investigations.

Happy Parking

The Parking Prankster