Recently I had to go to the Prince George hospital for a stress test on my heart. When I got there, I put enough money towards parking to cover the five hours I was supposed to be there for the test. This particular test involves a scan, then an injection of some kind of dye, then a wait, then you get hooked up to an ECG machine, then you go on the treadmill, then after that it's back for a final scan.
I got to the treadmill part, got hooked up to the ECG (electrodes taped to various parts of your body) and waited for the doctor who had to be there to supervise the test.
The doctor was delayed by about half an hour so the test was late getting started. When I did finally get going on the treadmill, it didn't work out too well.
I nearly collapsed and my heart started beating strangely as shown by the ECG. That held things up again as the doctor had to be sure that I was going to be alright to continue with the final scan.
Needless to say, this held things up quite a bit and while all this was going on my parking time expired. I came out to find a ticket on my windshield. I sent a letter to Impark, the company that runs the parking at the hospital, explaining what had happened and why I was not in a position to put more money in the meter, but it was totally ignored and I recently received a final demand notice, threatening to send my bill to collections.
My advice to anyone visiting the hospital on their own is to not pass away while there as Impark will surely be at the reading of your will looking to get their hands on their pound of flesh.
I don't mind paying a reasonable sum for parking but being fined for collapsing during testing while there is not my idea of fair compensation.
Phil Newcombe
Prince George
