"Ticket Machine Not in Use then £70 demand from..."

My wife was a patient at Wansbeck from 31 Jan for a hysterectomy, we were referred to the hospital after the failings at the Cumberland Infirmary. We have both been impressed with the hospital, its care and staff. The only downside has been today a letter arrived from Parking Eye demanding £70 for non display of a parking ticket. We used the patients' parking spaces closest to the main entrance, had change to pay to park, anticipating a 1 hour stay for £1.20 cost. Both the wife and I checked the tucket machine and the LCD display listed Not In Use, so we could not pay. From the reviews of Parking Ey online, who use AMPR cameras to police the parking facilities they maybe contracted to manage, the enforcement policies they use appear to be a blanket approach without much room for customer service. The Parking Eye website has no accessibility functions for anyone with a disability or a customer service number, only an automated payment line. Its seems very mercenary for a hospital to contract such a company. I am more than happy to pay the hourly £1.20 fee retrospectively, but the practices of Parking Eye leave a sour taste in your mouth after such excellent care for a loved one at Wansbeck. I hope the hospital's estates dept can help out with this situation, as I don't anticipate much response from Parking Eye. The machine was also displaying a Not n Use message on its LCD on my second visit to collect my wife on 2 February so am anticipating another £70 letter from Parking Eye, who clearly don't know when their or the hospital's equipment has a fault and are just doing blanket enforcement of whichever poor patient or visitor unsuspectingly enter Wansbeck Hospital's estates. Big Brother is certainly watching you. A pity the parking machines are not as high tech as the AMPR cameras as if you could pay for a ticket you would not get a nasty letter, the last thing you need when taking time out to help your wife recover from surgery.