A disabled man was slapped with a £70 fine while visiting his cancer-stricken mother-in-law in hospital.
Bryan Grieve, 48, parked in a disabled bay near the hospital entrance while visiting his sick relative.
The blue badge holder suffers from severe arthritis in his knees and issues with the cartilage in his joints.
Bryan paid for a ticket at the car park's machine and displayed his badge to ensure he was covered.
But the blue badge registration machine was not working at the reception and he returned to his car to discover he had been fined.
Now the fine has been overturned but Bryan was left aggrieved by the incident.
"If you are in hospital, you are under extreme stress," Bryan told Chronicle Live.
"You are only there for one reason – because you or a family member are ill and having this added to the stress of someone being ill is not on.
"It's very unfair to add this. It's bad enough in normal car parks but when it's a hospital it's worse."
Bryan and his wife were regular visitors at the car park of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where his mother-in-law was being treated in Tyne and Wear.
He wrote to ParkingEye to appeal against the fine, which he received in June.
But the parking management company rejected his case saying he had not tried to enter his registration into the blue badge machine – despite it being broken at the time.
It was only after he raised the issue with the hospital Trust's team that the penalty charge notice was finally quashed.
Bryan, from Jarrow, said: "I wanted to shout at someone at ParkingEye but there's no-one to shout at."
As he was not told the reason for him being fined, Bryan thought he simply had to prove he had paid to park and did not include evidence of the broken machine in his appeal.
He criticised the appeals process and said he found the lack of clarity deeply frustrating.
"We didn't realise that [the machine] was the issue, it wasn't clear from the notice," he said.
"They just said we hadn't paid so we produce the ticket."
The hospital, in Gateshead, has since said it will waive the fine through ParkingEye after receiving the correct evidence.
Bryan said: "I'm pleased it's over, especially with all the time and stress it has taken.
"We never told my mother-in-law, we didn't want to give her that stress. £70 is quite a lot of money."
He also told how he felt it important to highlight his impression that the system was stacked against those who may not know what is needed to appeal a parking fine, especially given the time-consuming nature and hospital setting.
Gateshead Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, has apologised to Bryan for the situation.
Anthony Robson, managing director of QE Facilities, said: "We apologise for any confusion or distress caused to Mr Grieve.
"We’re committed to always providing an excellent experience for all of our patients and visitors.
"Now that we have the full details of the mitigating circumstances in this particular case, we will of course waive the penalty notice through our parking management company ParkingEye.
"If Mr Grieve, or indeed any of our patients or visitors, need assistance with parking in the future I would urge them to speak to a member of staff or contact us."
Bryan's mother-in-law has improved in her condition and left hospital since her son-in-law's parking ordeal.
The Mirror Online has contacted ParkingEye for comment.
