East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) has confirmed that a new company will manage the car park, taking over from Parking Eye due to the end of their contract.
A statement from ESNEFT said: “A new car parking provider is taking over management of ESNEFT’s car parking services from Tuesday, October 21, when our existing contract with Parking Eye, the current provider, comes to an end.”
While it comes due to the contract expiring, a number of people will be delighted with the news after they were issued parking fines, with many complaining about Parking Eye’s appeal website.
Recently, Andy Graves was given a fine for being told he didn’t need to pay, despite being at the hospital for over an hour.
He said: “It’s an appalling website.
“It just offers a long list and you have to keep clicking to find the right page to make an appeal.
“I eventually found it and then there was no way of knowing if your appeal had gone through to them.”
He was refunded after going to the Travel Plan team at ESNEFT, with no response from Parking Eye.
This seems to have been a long-running issue, with a man in 2023 getting a fine for £70 for staying over eight hours and being told he didn’t need to pay.
Others have had issues, with many people taking to social media to say they have also wrongly been given PCNs for parking at the Hospital.
Another couple, Jan and John Devey, said the set-up was “nothing short of a scandal”.
They said: “In spite of the appearance of an opportunity to ‘challenge’ any fines the reality is this is impossible.
“The parking company’s website doesn’t permit it and the telephone contact given only allows payment.
“I have sent in a written ‘challenge’ to a faceless PO box number and as yet received no acknowledgement.
“It would seem this will not happen before the so called ‘reduction’ payment is due in 14 days forcing me to pay the higher penalty.
“Given the total lack of communication, even if my challenge was miraculously upheld, I don’t fancy my chances of ever receiving a refund.”