A Wimbledon dad who was fined £60 while transferring his severely disabled son to an appointment is urging St Helier Hospital to review its parking policy.

Mehmood Naqshbandi, 60, of Plough Lane, has protested against the code after taking 15-year-old Muhammad, who is on life support, to Queen Mary’s Hospital for Children (QMHfC) on February 22.

Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust has cancelled the parking charge notice and apologised but says a ‘number of measures’ are in place.

Your Local Guardian:

Mr Naqshbandi's son, Muhammad

In a letter to the trust, seen by Sutton Guardian, he said: “Significant numbers of children attending are disabled and wheelchair-bound. Some are profoundly disabled, such as my son.

“In his case, he is required to travel to his appointments with his life support system – i.e., ventilator, oxygen cylinder, suction machine, emergency resuscitation equipment, food pump, oximetry – all either carried by his carer or strapped to his wheelchair.

“The complete set of equipment and chair with him in it weighs 220kg, nearly a quarter of a ton.

“It is therefore morally indefensible, and a direct assault on the rights of disabled children, for the child’s transport to be targeted for parking offences when the vehicle is parked, safely, in a designated parking area, for no longer than necessary to perform the transfer.

“St Helier Hospital had until two years ago, provided two disabled bays, a staff parking bay and four non-emergency, patient-transport ambulance-car bays at the entrance to QMHfC for precisely this purpose.

“Now there is only one disabled bay and the staff bay is occupied by a freight container left as a tool store.”

Your Local Guardian:

Where Mr Naqshbandi parked his car after he received a parking ticket

The IT consultant was cited for ‘parking in fire access or emergency vehicle areas’ when his vehicle was observed at 9.24am, six minutes before the 9.30am appointment.

Mr Naqshbandi subsequently spoke with the ticketing officer and invited to him to see his son inside the hospital as a way of demonstrating the process of transferring his son, however it was declined.

He added: “The fact that there is only one disabled bay at all demonstrates that the need has been acknowledged, albeit curiously.

“The fact that the other disabled bay has been removed, painted out with hatched yellow lines, and that the patient transport bays – where my son’s transport was parked – are now subject to parking penalties, and the failure to continue to recognise this need is an attack on disabled children’s right to healthcare.”

Your Local Guardian:

The parking ticket issued to Mr Naqshbandi

An Epsom and St Helier spokeswoman said, given the mitigating circumstances of Mr Naqshbandi, his fine was cancelled.

She added: “As a busy hospital trust that cares for more than half a million people and provides care on 913,000 occasions every year, we have to ensure that people coming to our hospitals use our parking facilities appropriately and our emergency vehicles can get where they need to, quickly.

Your Local Guardian:

The appointment letter

“We understand that a trip to the hospital is not pleasant and can be quite a stressful time, and acknowledge that parking and accessibility can be an important part of the experience a patient may have with us.

“As such, we have a number of measures in place to ensure parking is as stress-free as possible, including concession for regular patients, dedicated disabled bays, and refunds for patients whose appointments are delayed.”

Car park operator Empark has been approached for comment.