• SOME time ago I took my wife to A&E at the Royal Free Hospital in Pond Street. I parked in the car park and on leaving about two hours later paid what I thought was the correct fee at the payment machine.

I was therefore very surprised when shortly afterwards I received a fine of £60, subsequently increased to £100. (I use the word “fine” although for legal reasons the parking companies prefer to use the word “charge”).

The car park is run by ParkingEye who pursued their claim in the county court. However, when the case eventually came to court I was exonerated and their claim against me was dismissed.

As recently discussed in parliament, private parking companies stand accused of devising a business model that maximises their income through fines. According to parliament, private parking companies attempt to fine almost four million motorists a year.

This is completely unnecessary as it is a relatively simple matter to put in place a parking system that works and does not generate fines on a large scale.

The reason for this letter is two-fold. Firstly, I want to warn your readers to be very careful when using the Royal Free car park (or indeed any car park run by ParkingEye).

At the Royal Free the company requires motorists to remember the precise time that they entered the car park and enter this into the payment machine when they leave (which could be a considerable time later).

Do not assume that the automatic number plate recognition system will calculate the charge for you – you have to do this yourself. Also note that there are no signs in the car park telling you to do this.

Secondly, I would ask the hospital to stop employing private parking firms, run the car park themselves and institute a system that is honest and fair to patients and visitors – which clearly is not the case at present.

BOB HAWKES, N20