Editor: I just watched Marketplace on CBC and should like to add my experience regarding hospital parking lots.
I am a volunteer with palliative care on the Langley Memorial Hospital site.
As you can well imagine, the families and visitors are visiting their loved one or friend when clearly they are at the end of their life. They pay the price of parking for what they judge is adequate time (which is a sad state of affairs). In their grief and sadness, the last thing on their mind is feeding the parking meter, so getting a ticket adds insult to injury.
When I raise the subject with parking attendants I am told “once they know they are going to be parking in the palliative parking lot over some time, they can purchase a parking pass for a nominal fee.”
At the best of times, some of us have difficulty navigating the parking meter systems, least of all remembering to feed the meter when time has elapsed.
I have also had experience with bringing a family member to emergency when things were more complicated than we expected. When I went out to put more money in the meter, I saw a woman pleading with the meter attendant to give her a chance to feed the meter, as she had to get change. He refused and gave her a ticket.
I never argue with the meter attendant, but I estimate I have paid over $200 for this very thing when my husband was taken to two different hospitals in the Lower Mainland in an emergency situation, over the last year.
Faye Causley,
Langley
