A STRESSED patient who visited her doctor after experiencing severe migraines has been “pushed to the brink” after battling an “unjust” £70 parking fine for months.

Nadine Lynch, 30, was first slapped with a £35 fine after overstaying her hour of free parking at Turner Road Surgery in Colchester by ten minutes.

Her late stay was down to a 45 minute wait for her appointment, with the surgery admitting fault.

Nadine appealed against the fine and the practice manager penned a letter in support but this was rejected and the fine increased to £70.

The fine was issued in February and Nadine received a letter threatening court action this month.

“My appointment was running 45 minutes late,” she said.

“I mentioned to the doctor that I needed to go because of parking and was even about to run outside but they said a couple of minutes should be fine.

“By the time I got out and to my car I wasn’t really in a good way and had to get myself together a bit before I could safely drive.

“I got proof from the surgery they were running behind.

“I was told there should be ten minutes grace period to allow people to leave the car park.”

Nadine, who works as a dog walker, was seeking treatment for severe migraines.

She also has an anxiety disorder and depression, which worsened because of the circumstances brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“My mental health wasn’t great then and then we went into Covid-19, it took an even worse turn,”

she said.

“They carried on chasing me and I contacted the surgery to say they were pushing me to the brink, affecting mental and physical health.

“They sent a letter to the parking company, that was at the end of March, and I didn’t hear anything more before I received another letter this month telling me to pay the £70 or they’ll take me to court.

“It is so stressful as I cannot afford it.

“I’m trying to get my self employment up and running again trying to live without putting myself in debt.”

After a spate of complaints about parking fines at Colchester Hospital last year, East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust urged patients and visitors to get in touch if they felt they had been unjustly fined.

When the Gazette reported on visitors’ plights fighting fines, Fiona Sparrow, head of facilities at the trust, said: “We do have an appeal process in place for anyone who thinks they’ve been unfairly fined.”

She added yesterday: “We are happy to look into this for Miss Lynch and will be able to cancel the charge.

“We ask Miss Lynch to contact our travel team at the hospital direct so we can help.”

In October, it was revealed the trust received more than £2 million from car parking charges as well as £600,000 in staff car parking fees.

The data was collected from ambulance, care, hospital and NHS trusts as well as hospital and community health services for the period from April 2018 to March 2019.

The figures revealed the trust had an income of £2,317,173 from car parking charges for patients and visitors as well as £621,012 from staff.

At the time, the trust said: “All the money raised from parking charges goes back into patient care, this includes maintaining and improving our car parks.”

The car parks at Colchester Hospital and Turner Road Surgery are managed by private firm Car Parking Partnership, although the hospital can have a final say in fines given.

In January, hospital bosses apologised after dozens of parking fines were issued to cancer patients and their families in error.

A technology problem meant fines were dished out to drivers who used the hospital’s radiotherapy department car park at the start of 2020.